An Atlanta man has been charged in Chattanooga with pimping and then kidnapping a woman from Baltimore.
Khari Matthew "King Black" Troutman is charged with promoting prostitution, domestic assault and kidnapping.
Police said they were dispatched on Saturday to Applebees on Shallowford Village Drive on a kidnapping call. Iesha Ornelas said she had been held against her will by Troutman for the last several days.
She said she met Troutman at the Comfort Inn at Silver Springs, Md., about a week and a half earlier and agreed to travel with him to North Carolina and work for him as a prostitute. She said Troutman put in an ad for her services on Backpage.com in North Carolina, Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Ms. Ornelas said the agreement had been that Troutman would return her home by last Thursday so she could visit with her children who are in foster care, but he refused. She said on Friday at the Microtel she told Troutman she would no longer prostitute for him and would find her own way home to Maryland.
She said he responded by grabbing her, pushing her and hitting her in the face, leaving several bruises.
On Saturday, she said she begged Troutman to let her leave the Microtel to get something to eat. He then walked her from the motel to Applebee's. She said she borrowed a phone while in the women's restroom and called police.
Troutman told police he and "Killa" were in a romantic relationship and were traveling the country to sightsee with two other prostitutes - one from Kentucky and one from Georgia.