Police arrest man for trying to pimp teens at West Seattle motel

Thanks to Trick for pointing out this Times article about prostitution-related arrests in West Seattle earlier this month. Here’s additional information we’ve found on the case: We checked the jail register, and the 33-year-old man arrested for trying to pimp two 15-year-old girls at Seattle West Inn and Suites in the Triangle (West Seattle’s only motel, aka the former Travelodge), Toda M. Robinson, is still behind bars, with bail set at $100,000. We also downloaded the court documents for more details; he is charged with two counts of promoting sexual abuse of a minor, and the documents note that Robinson has an “extensive criminal history” including “at least six crimes of violence.” (The state court-system search engine has 110 results for his name, dating back to 1991, when he would have been as young as the two girls involved in this case.) The court documents say police arranged the location for the sting, booking a room at the motel after answering a CL ad, and made the arrests after Robinson dropped the girls off – they tracked him down in the parking lot of the 35th/Avalon KFC with a 16-year-old girl in the car, which was described as emanating “a strong odor of marijuana.” One of the girls told police that he usually gets half their money and has at least 3 other teenagers and 10 adult prostitutes working for him.

No Pimp Nulu January 29, 2009 (10:42 am)

Who chose the ONLY motel in West Seattle?
Vice Squad/John?
Or Pimp?
Is it possible they to chose to hot pillow at Triangle Motel for its convenience to KFC?

WSB January 29, 2009 (10:46 am)

The exact language from the court documents is (in the detective’s narrative on the “complaint,” aka charging papers):

“We reserved a room at Seattle West Inn and Suites (address). Detective (name) called Monique and let her know he had a room and gave her the address and room number. At approximately 2045 Monique called back asking for directions to the hotel.”

Monique is the name used by the woman who answered the phone number in the CL ad the detective responded to. The documents give no hint of why police chose this motel to reserve a room – the narrative goes directly from the detective negotiating a price with Monique, to “We reserved a room …”

Melissa January 29, 2009 (10:49 am)

Trick, in this case you have an unfortunate nickname!

Alcina January 29, 2009 (11:21 am)

For anyone who might have an interest in learning more about child/youth prostitution in Seattle, Councilmember Burgess has a post on his blog about it and a link to a City-funded study that was completed last year.
http://tinyurl.com/ck5hsz