Teen arrested in prostitution sting at hotel

RICHLAND — A 19-year-old Richland man is accused of prostituting out a 16-year-old girl by sending her to dance partially nude or have sex with customers for money.

Jessien Malik Perry, who ran a business called 509's Finest, was busted when he sent two exotic dancers to a motel only to find out their clients were two undercover police officers, prosecutors said.

Perry is being held in the Benton County Jail on $50,000 bail for the sexual exploitation of a minor.

He already was in custody on $100,000 for an unrelated case for assault and violating a protection order.

According to police and prosecutors, Perry employed the 16-year-old girl during the month of March as an exotic dancer. He would send the teen out "to various events to perform partially nude dances for money," court documents said. He also allegedly told her to go to a man's home and have sex with him for a fixed amount of money.

Each time, Perry would take a portion of the proceeds, documents said.

Richland police report that Perry knew the girl was underage when he assigned her to dance and to prostitute herself.

Perry also took promotional pictures for the business of two other underage girls, Deputy Prosecutor Julie Long wrote in court documents.

The sexual exploitation charge is for employing or causing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, knowing that such conduct will be photographed or part of a live performance.

Perry has pleaded not guilty in Benton County Superior Court and faces a Sept. 28 trial.

In an unrelated case, he is scheduled for trial Aug. 31 for second-degree assault and felony violation of a pretrial protection order.

According to those documents, also filed by Long, a verbal argument with his live-in girlfriend on June 13 escalated to Perry knocking the woman to the ground and dragging her into the house. Perry also allegedly put his hands around the woman's neck and began strangling her.

The victim hit her head on a coffee table and had to be treated at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland for a concussion.

A pretrial no-contact order was issued June 30 after Perry tried to break windows at his girlfriend's home, court documents said. Then on July 3, he returned to the house and again tried to strangle her and hit her on the head several times, documents said.

The victim's son allegedly witnessed the beating. Perry reportedly left when 911 was called, but was found hiding in the neighborhood.