Two Milwaukeeans on the run from sex trafficking charges have been captured in Minnesota after a scary encounter for a state trooper.
Authorities said on Monday morning, the trooper drove past a car stranded in a snow storm near Morehead, Minnesota. When he stopped to help, he ran the plates and found the car was stolen from Germantown. 29-year-old Domonique Crayton and 30-year-old Melody Gray were in the vehicle.
As the trooper was putting Crayton in handcuffs, Gray allegedly put a gun to the trooper's head and the gun misfired. The trooper was able to shoot Gray and both were captured. Crayton and Gray have been charged for their actions against the trooper.
Court records show the couple was allegedly working together as a sex trafficking team. They were wanted for kidnapping and sex trafficking a woman who went to police just two weeks ago to report they wanted to kill her.
The victim told police Crayton put a gun to her head on Feb. 20 after she refused to travel with him and Gray to be trafficked.
"Clayton told (the victim) he was going to have Gray take (her) inside a building and shoot and kill (her)," reads the criminal complaint.
Instead, the victim said Crayton took her to a garage on Burleigh and raped her. She got away claiming she had an appointment and went straight to police.
"It's really a matter of survival for her because if she doesn't do those things she takes the beat down," said Deanne Lawson.
Lawson is the founder of the Inner Beauty Center on Milwaukee's south side.
"We're dealing with the aftermath of the women who have been trafficked," she said.
Lawson feels for both the victim and Gray.
"Often times females are 'bottoms,'" she said. "It's typically somebody who has worked for the pimp that has gained the trust, that the pimp really trusts and believes."
Lawson sees first hand the pervasiveness of human trafficking in Milwaukee.
"Last year, when we were doing street outreach we had contact, first time contact with about 116 women in this area and 78 were repeat contacts," she said.
Lawson advocates anyone who's involved to get help now through them before something similar to this case takes place.
"Their life is really always on the line," Lawson said.
