A missing girl found in a car with three men during a traffic stop Sunday night in Tarentum told police the men had forced her to use drugs, drink alcohol and have sex with them, according to criminal complaints filed against the men.
Police said the girl told them she was afraid of becoming pregnant, and one of the men, identified as James Sledge, threatened to kill her family if she didn’t do what they told her.
Arrested in connection with the incident were Sledge, 32, of McKeesport; Victor Williams, 33, also of McKeesport; and Houston Goins, 54, of Pittsburgh.
The men face charges including corruption of minors; selling or furnishing liquor to a minor; possession of heroin, cocaine and marijuana; and possession of drugs with intent to deliver. Goins also was charged with driving with a suspended license.
All three men are being held in Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. Preliminary hearings were scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 10, according to online court records.
The criminal complaints said state police pulled over a car driven by Goins around 9:30 p.m. on Bull Creek Road in Tarentum because Goins’ license was suspended. The trooper said he found the girl under a blanket inside the car with no shoes on.
The trooper learned the girl had been reported missing since last Friday from Greensburg.
The trooper determined Sledge was wanted on a felony warrant out of McKeesport, but the complaints did not say why he was wanted. Online court records show McKeesport police had filed a half-dozen drug-related charges against him in October. He was arraigned on those charges Sunday, in addition to being arraigned on the charges connected to Sunday’s traffic stop in Tarentum.
Police said Sledge had a small amount of marijuana and a digital scale.
During the traffic stop, police said, the girl told them the men had heroin in the car and that they had been driving around selling drugs. She said they were on their way to Ohio.
A search of the vehicle allegedly turned up 261 stamp bags of heroin, 19 grams of suspected cocaine, a gram of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Police said the girl became unresponsive as they drove her to the Kittanning state police station and they rushed her to ACMH Hospital in Kittanning. Police spoke with her after she woke up, the complaint said.
The complaints said additional charges could be filed against the men “pending the investigation of further accusations.”
