A mall security guard charged with prostituting teenagers for sex tried to recruit girls while on the job and told at least one of them he was an undercover police officer trying to catch sexual predators, according to court records.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Alexandria says Cooper Kweme, of Arlington, ran a prostitution business by taking nude photos of the girls, posting them on a website he created for the escort business and on other sites like Backpage.com and driving the girls to appointments at hotels or a client's home.
He worked at the Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center as a security guard and has admitted to investigators that "he would walk around trying to recruit girls for his prostitution," according to the complaint. Mall officials didn't return a call for comment Friday afternoon.
Kweme is charged with transportation of a minor for prostitution. He was arrested earlier this month. No attorney was listed for him in online court records.
Authorities learned of the escort business from one of the girls who worked for Kweme and reported him to the Arlington County police.
The 16-year-old girl met Kweme on a social-networking site called Tagged.com. The pair communicated online, then by phone. Kweme told the girl his Tagged account was "an undercover police profile the police used to catch sexual predators," according to the complaint.
Kweme told the girl he was a police officer. The girl saw him wear uniform pants, a ballistic vest that had a gold badge and read "police," and carried a gun and a stun gun, the complaint says.
The girl told authorities that she had sex with Kweme several times, and also slept with about eight other men who were clients of Kweme's prostitution business.
When she slept with Kweme in a hotel, he would bring the stun gun into the hotel, the complaint says.
The girl reported that Kweme suggested she "have sex with his friends" and later took her to an apartment building without telling her why. The girl said she didn't want to have sex with the man there "but he was a big guy and she did not feel that she could get away from him."
After he was arrested, Kweme admitted to authorities that he had been a "manager" for his escort service since October and drove girls to clients in Maryland, Virginia and the District.
