Gilliam is accused raping the two 13-year-old girls and of having plans to film them for OnlyFans and Pornhub content before they were rescued by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department June 9, the affidavit says. — Unsplash
Nearly a year ago, two 13-year-old girls were walking down a central California street when they were forced into a car and taken to an Airbnb, where they were raped for days, according to court documents recently filed in federal court.
The girls later told investigators that one of three men inside the car, who wasn’t identified in the documents, said to “get in, or else” another man would “get out and put them in the vehicle”.
This happened June 3, 2023 around 2am in Bell Gardens, a city in Los Angeles County, according to an affidavit written by an FBI special agent that was filed in support of a criminal complaint filed April 22.
The criminal complaint charges Reuben Gilliam, the third man inside the car, and Daisy Pollard-Gilliam, who is reportedly the owner of the Airbnb, with a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children.
Gilliam is accused raping the two 13-year-old girls and of having plans to film them for OnlyFans and Pornhub content before they were rescued by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department June 9, the affidavit says.
Gilliam is not yet in federal custody, but he was detained as of May 7, according to Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
He “is in state custody on unrelated charges and we expect him to be brought over to federal court in the coming days”, McEvoy told McClatchy News in an emailed statement.
Pollard-Gilliam was arrested April 24, according to her arrest warrant. She’s due in court on May 9 for a preliminary hearing, court records show.
A federal defender appointed to represent her didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News. Information regarding Gilliam’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
What happened at the Airbnb
After Gilliam and the two other men abducted the teens on June 3, according to the affidavit, they headed to Pollard-Gilliam’s Airbnb on Flower Street in Lynwood, California.
The address mentioned in the affidavit no longer appears to be an active on Airbnb. McClatchy News contacted Airbnb for more information and didn’t receive an immediate response.
While at the Airbnb, “throughout the next week, both minor victims were required to have sexual intercourse with the suspects, including REUBEN, as well as with numerous other adult males (‘customers’), to ‘make money’,” the affidavit states.
Gilliam and Pollard-Gilliam are accused of collecting cash from “customers”, according to the affidavit.
One of the girls told investigators that “at times she was handcuffed to a chest of drawers when her captors left her in the room alone”.
At times, Gilliam forced her to take pills, the affidavit says.
Additionally, Gilliam and Pollard-Gilliam made the teens pose for photos for commercial sex advertisements, according to the affidavit.
Teens taken to ‘mansion in the mountains’
One day before the girls were rescued, according to the affidavit, they were driven to a home in Sunland owned by an “older man” on June 8.
The girls told investigators the residence was a “mansion in the mountains”, the affidavit says.
It’s unclear what happened the rest of the day on June 8.
The next day, on June 9, the homeowner arrived at the residence and ”ordered them to leave”, the affidavit says.
According to the filing, the girls “fled”. The homeowner later told investigators that “someone had broken into” his home and the teens weren’t allowed there.
Afterward, the teens called Pollard-Gilliam, who ordered a rideshare vehicle that drove them to a McDonald’s, the affidavit says.
Then, “unidentified male suspects” picked them up and drove them “to a recreational vehicle parked” in Gardena, according to the affidavit.
That evening, deputies from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s Compton station rescued the girls from the RV with a California license plate linked to Gilliam-Pollard’s phone number, the affidavit says.
The LASD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on May 7.
More on the case
In January, investigators discovered Pollard-Gilliam shared inappropriate images of the teens to an inmate at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California, the affidavit says.
Meanwhile, a federal search of Gilliam’s Instagram account revealed he was messaging other users about the girls, the affidavit states.
The FBI agent wrote in the affidavit that he believes Gilliam was explaining to one person that “he had many females, including the two minor victims, with him to be filmed for Only Fans and Porn Hub”.
According to an analysis published in January by the University of Northern Colorado’s Social Research Lab, sex trafficking is being “facilitated” on OnlyFans, as uncovered by researchers and investigative journalists.
An OnlyFans spokesperson told McClatchy News on May 7 that adults are unable to “post images of minors on OnlyFans”.
“All creators go through extensive age and identification checks before they are able to upload content to the platform. This means we know the identity of everyone on the platform,” the spokesperson said.
After Pollard-Gilliam appears for her initial hearing, she’s due back in court for a post-indictment arraignment scheduled on May 14, court records show.
Gilliam and Pollard-Gilliam haven’t been indicted as of May 7, according to court records.
Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking, a “crime of exploitation”, according to the US Department of Justice. Traffickers profit off their victims by forcing them to engage in sex acts or do labour.
In the US, children in welfare or juvenile justice systems, such as foster care, are the most vulnerable to human trafficking, according to officials. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
