A 27 year old Key Largo man, an employee of the Florida Keys Children’s Shelter, is under arrest today charged with taking two girl’s who’d run away from the shelter to a motel in Cutler Ridge.
Investigations into what the girls became involved in after Ricky Atkins took them to the motel are ongoing. The extent of his involvement with other crimes is also still under investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office first became aware of the allegations when one of the girls called the Sheriff’s Office on September 1st. She wanted to report being driven to the Miami area on August 15th with another girl from the shelter. She told deputies she and the other girl ran away from the shelter, received a ride to Miami and were used for prostitution there; she said they witnessed other crimes taking place as well.
After receiving the report, Detective Vince Weiner from the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit, worked with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking Task Force to investigate the allegations. The investigation is ongoing. The two girls, who were reported missing from the shelter on August 15th, were found in Sarasota County by North Port Police Department on August 24th and were returned to the custody of the Florida Keys Children’s Shelter.
Atkins was booked into jail on Tuesday, charged with two counts of interference with custody – a third degree felony.