Chicago Man Charged With Forcing Mentally Disabled Woman Into Prostitution

A 36-year-old Rogers Park man was charged with involuntary servitude Sunday after he allegedly trapped a mentally disabled woman in his car and forced her into prostitution for four days.

Charles Nelson, who lives on the 1700 block of West Albion Street, reportedly picked up a 20-year-old Crystal Lake woman on June 6 and proceeded to hold her hostage in his car for four days without food or water while making her perform acts of prostitution with suburban men. The woman, who is mentally handicapped and has the mind of a 12-year-old, had been in the city visiting a friend.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the woman was finally freed from Nelson's control when she was able to access her cell phone and call her father, who in turn contacted the police.

According to court records, an individual who witnessed the woman being picked up had originally offered her a bus pass to escape but Nelson took it from her and said she would never be able to leave.

He was arrested in an alley in the city's Austin neighborhood on June 10, according to the Chicago Tribune.