Two Minnetonka convenience store clerks are accused of trading a 14-year-old girl cigarettes for sexual favors.
Deandre Jerome Boyd, 21, of St. Louis Park and Jammie DeWayne Lee, 44, of Minnetonka face various counts of criminal sexual conduct and prostitution in charges filed Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court. The two men knew the girl was too young to buy cigarettes, according to charges, but they sold them to her on multiple occasions in exchange for sex acts. The girl was also too young to legally consent to the sex acts, the charges note.
Investigators say the exchanges began in early December, when the girl first attempted to buy cigarettes at Freedom Valu Center on Shady Oak Road. Boyd agreed to sell her cigarettes, as long as his manager was not there, if she would flash her breasts. The girl, identified as Victim A in the charges, told investigators she flashed Boyd in a back hallway, and he fondled her.
“Eventually, ‘flashing’ was not enough, and Boyd told Victim A that if she wanted cigarettes, she would have to give him oral sex,” an investigator wrote in the criminal complaint.
The girl said she complied, but, because the oral sex was not satisfactory, Boyd only gave her three packs of cigarettes instead of the five she wanted.
In subsequent visits, the girl said she performed oral sex on Lee and another man, who has not been charged, in exchange for cigarettes.
The situation came to light Dec. 19, when Hennepin County Child Protection Services was notified, according to the complaint. The girl was interviewed at CornerHouse, a child abuse evaluation center. Two of the girl’s friends, age 15 and 16 at the time of the incidents, told investigators they were there the day the girl flashed Boyd. They said the girl later told them she was exchanging oral sex for cigarettes. Another employee of the convenience store also told investigators the girl would go to the back of the store with Boyd and others.
“Sex-trafficking ranges from organized rings to the kind of activities we have charged here,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in announcing the charges. “In this case, we are alleging that Mr. Boyd took advantage of a young girl and her desire for cigarettes in order to have sexual contacts and then helped his friends do the same.”