A31-year-old
Baltimore Police officer was charged Friday with pimping out his wife after
officers from a human trafficking task force found him outside a hotel room
where the woman had agreed to have sex for cash with an undercover officer.
The
child recovery task force was working a proactive investigation into human
trafficking when they came across a "young-looking female" advertised
as an escort on a website, police said. Officers arranged to meet the female at
a hotel near BWI airport, court records show.
Inside
the hotel room, a woman identified by police as Marissa Braun-Manneh told an
undercover officer that she would have sex for $100, and she was placed under
arrest, charging documents show.She said that her husband, Lamin Manneh, was
waiting outside in a car, and that she gives him her money and he drives her
from "date-to-date," according to court records. She also said that
he posts the online ads using his credit card. Police said Manneh acknowledged
his role in an interview with detectives, records show.
Elena
Russo, a state police spokeswoman, said both husband and wife were charged
because they appeared to be "working as a team."
Manneh,
of the 2400 block of Marbourne Ave. in Baltimore, is an officer assigned to the
Baltimore Police Department's Eastern District. State police said he was
suspended without pay and that the city police internal affairs would
investigate.
"This
allegation is a disgrace and embarrassment to every member -- both current and
retired -- who serve with the Baltimore Police Department," Baltimore's
Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said in a statement. "We expect
every member of this department to hold themselves to the highest professional
standards. Our colleagues and our community deserve nothing less."
Manneh
was charged in Anne Arundel County District Court with one count each of human
trafficking and prostitution, and was released on his own recognizance by a
District Court commissioner, records show. Braun was charged with one count of
prostitution and also released on her own recognizance.