A change-of-plea hearing scheduled for May 16 has been postponed until June 9 for a Compton woman charged with having kidnapped two teenagers and forcing them to engage in sexual activity for money.
Daisy Pollard-Gilliam, 42, has agreed to plead guilty in downtown Los Angeles to two counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of kidnapping, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Her 25-year-old son Reuben Gilliam was also charged in the case and is awaiting trial. According to prosecutors, two 13-year-old girls were walking in Bell Gardens in the early hours of June 3, 2023, when a vehicle with three men pulled alongside them. One of the occupants ordered the teens to get in, and they were taken to a home in Lynwood.
Prosecutors contend that over the next week, the victims were forced to engage in sex acts with both defendants and other “customers,” at least one of whom claimed to have paid the defendants $100 to have sex with the teens.
The teens were also directed to pose for provocative photos wearing lingerie that were used to advertise the commercial sex operation, prosecutors said. After several nights at the Lynwood location, the defendants saw social media posts about missing children that depicted the two victims and described them as being only 13 years old, prosecutors alleged, adding that the victims were then moved out of Lynwood.
Law enforcement officials found the teens on June 9, 2023 in a recreational vehicle in Gardena, prosecutors said. Investigators also allegedly recovered clothing, shoes, glasses and a cell phone that was apparently given to the teens by the suspects.
Pollard-Gilliam distributed photos and videos of the victims to an inmate at Kern Valley State Prison, prosecutors contend, while Reuben Gilliam allegedly communicated on Instagram with other users about his trafficking of the teens. If her guilty plea is accepted, Pollard-Gilliam would face between 20 years and life in federal prison, court papers show.