Former Wheaton mall security guard indicted for sex trafficking, child pornograpy

A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., has indicted a 31-year-old Silver Spring man who worked as a security guard at the Westfield Wheaton mall and told authorities he recruited young shoppers there to work for his escort service, the Gazette reported.

Cooper Kweme, who also goes by Jason Pathers and Jason Forhee, also faces criminal charges of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution and production of child pornography, according to Thursday's indictment.

Kweme was arrested by Arlington County, Va., police June 1. He has run The Empire Service in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland since October 2010, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Sidney Woods, a spokesman for the Westfield Wheaton mall, would not confirm or deny Kweme’s association with the mall and declined to comment on the case Monday, according to the Gazette.

According to the indictment and court records, Kweme operated a prostitution business in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia and used the Internet to advertise women as prostitutes. He is accused of meeting a 16-year-old Arlington, Va., girl on Tagged, an on-line social network aimed at teens, and recruiting her to work as a prostitute.

Kweme posted sexually explicit photographs of the girl online, according to the indictment.