The father and son from Sidney who are charged with sex trafficking were evicted from a North Belgrade house in June because the landlord suspected they were running a prostitution ring there, according to a court affidavit released Tuesday.
Frederick Horne Sr., 46, and Frederick Horne Jr., 19, both of 2874 West River Road in Sidney, were charged Thursday with sex trafficking after authorities ransacked their home and found both Hornes and about a half-dozen women there.
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The women were not charged, and their names were redacted from the affidavit, although “stage names” were included.
Horne Sr. on Friday denied any wrongdoing to the Morning Sentinel.
The first complaints about the Hornes were generated in 2012, when they rented a house at 370 Smithfield Road in North Belgrade.
In March 2012, state police Trooper Breann Petrini responded to a report from the address that Horne Jr. had threatened his father with a handgun and fled. When Petrini contacted Horne Jr., he told her that his father was conducting prostitution at the home, according to the affidavit.
Horne Sr. told Petrini that his son was intoxicated and had a drug problem. It’s not clear from the affidavit whether police followed up on Horne Jr.’s allegation.
Despite the landlord’s mounting suspicions, Petrini didn’t talk to him again until September, months after the Hornes had been evicted from the home and a year and a half after Horne Jr. had made those allegations.
Frederick Horne Sr. began renting the house in August 2011, and his landlord told police that initially he wasn’t suspicious about all the comings and goings because of the number of people who lived there.
But that fall, the landlord, who lived nearby, was approached by neighbors who asked him if a “cat house” was being run at the house. The landlord asked Horne Sr., who told him he wasn’t doing anything illegal, according to the affidavit.
In the spring of 2013, neighbors again made the complaint to the landlord.
“The landlord began to pay closer attention to the activity at 370 Smithfield Road,” the affidavit said. The landlord “stated he ‘saw on numerous occasions taxis dropping off scantily dress(ed) women in high heels and men arriving.’”
It said the landlord would see “men tucking in their shirts and combing their hair before going to the door and would leave anywhere between half an hour to an hour later.”
The landlord later told Petrini that he Googled Horne’s cellphone number and “found a website depicting scantily dressed women in photos.”
The landlord said the photos “were obviously taken in the rental property.”
The affidavit said the landlord again confronted Horne, “who didn’t confirm or deny anything.” The landlord issued a 30-day eviction on June 11.
After Horne was evicted, the landlord saw a cellphone number he recognized as Horne’s in adult entertainment ads in the Morning Sentinel, the first one in July, according to the affidavit.
After seeing that phone number, the landlord had a female friend call it. She spoke with a man presumed to be Horne about the ads and said she was thinking about applying, according to the affidavit, and the man told her the amount she would be making for having sex with clients and how much Horne Sr. gets for every hour and half-hour and room fees.
Meanwhile, police were called to Horne Sr.’s new address at 2874 West River Road in Sidney twice in 2013, according to the affidavit, first because of a domestic dispute in August and then because of an assault in September.
On Sept. 23, the day before the second complaint, the landlord’s daughter made a formal complaint about the prostitution activity at the North Belgrade house through an Internet crime reporting website.
Jesse Scardina can be contacted at 861-9239 or at: jscardina@centralmaine.com
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