Man Lured Italian Woman to Home with Ruse of Au Pair Job, Then Sexually Assaulted Her
Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, 32, pleaded no contest in April to five felony counts including kidnapping, coercing and enticing someone to travel for the purposes of illegal sexual activity
A Michigan man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted an Italian au pair was sentenced to life in federal prison.
Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, 32, pleaded no contest in April to multiple felony counts including kidnapping, coercing and enticing someone to travel for the purposes of illegal sexual activity as well as two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
"Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree is a sexual predator whose horrendous acts caused immeasurable harm to the women and girls upon whom he preyed," U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said on Monday, Oct. 7, after the sentencing, per a U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Michigan press release. (Winfree was sentenced on Oct. 7.)
Federal authorities allege Winfree targeted his victims through social media apps and created fake listings on the AuPair.com website to lure young women to his home.
He was accused of sexually exploiting four women, including two minors, in 2022.
“Winfree posed a danger to the whole world from his home here in West Michigan,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten after the no contest plea. “My office will do everything in its power to seek out and prosecute perpetrators like him, who use the Internet to exploit others. To victims, we stand ready to listen and to protect. And to everyone who uses the internet, be vigilant: you never know for sure who is on the other side of the screen.”
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Authorities first came across Winfree in Sept. 2022 after they got a call from a woman whose 18-year-old sister met Winfree on the au pair website and had flown from Kansas to take care of his niece.
"The reporting party advised that her sister was at the address with a male, and the male was making [victim] nervous," states a federal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
The teen asked the police to escort her from Winfree’s East Lansing home, per the complaint.
According to the complaint, when officers arrived, Winfree allegedly answered the door wearing a white robe. Officers also noted that his windows were covered up with newspapers, per the complaint.
The teen told police she saw multiple firearms that looked like machine guns inside the home.
She said Winfree called himself "Stryker" and asked the victim "if she was good at giving massages and asked [victim] to rub his shoulders,” per the complaint.
According to federal authorities, Winfree also lured a woman from Italy to his home claiming he needed her to take care of his niece. The woman told authorities Winfree picked her up at the Detroit airport on Oct. 12, 2022, and took her to his home.
She told authorities that the day after she arrived Winfree handcuffed her, placed a ball gag in her mouth, started videotaping her and then sexually assaulted her in an upstairs bedroom, per the complaint.
"For the first time in my life I prayed to God," she said, per the complaint. “He instructed me not to anything to anyone, He intimidated me when he said that he worked for the government.”
The following day, he drove her to a bus station in East Lansing and paid for a bus ticket to the Detroit International Airport. She arrived home to Italy on Oct. 15 and checked herself into a hospital for treatment.
Authorities later discovered in a search of his home a bag of sex toys and ten firearms, as well as photographs of Winfree engaging in sex with a minor, according to the complaint.
According to prosecutors, Winfree also allegedly spoke to a friend about a plan he had to kill the au pair and dump her body to avoid detection, per a U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan press release.
In addition, Winfree pleaded no contest to two counts of producing child pornography, after he allegedly persuaded two teens to send him nude photos through social media apps and recorded himself having sex with one of them.
Winfree's lawyer could not be reached for comment.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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