Arisknight Winfree and a screenshot of the texts showing him arranging to have an au pair travel from Italy to the U.S. (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A Michigan man who targeted victims, including two minors and a woman he lured from Italy and sexually assaulted, through a messaging service connecting au pairs with host families who need child care and housework will spend the rest of his life in prison, authorities said.
Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, 32, learned his fate on Monday for sexually exploiting four people in 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release. He was convicted on multiple charges, including kidnapping, coercion and enticement, attempted coercion and enticement, and production of child pornography.
“Arisknight Winfree is a sexual predator whose horrendous acts caused immeasurable harm to the women and girls upon whom he preyed,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten in the press release. “This life sentence is necessary to protect the community and bring a measure of justice to the survivors.”
On Sept. 5, 2022, through the website AuPair.com, Winfree contacted a young woman living in Italy, lying about his “family” needing an au pair to care for his niece, prosecutors said.
“We think you’d be a great fit,” Winfree told the young woman at one point and asked her to reach out on WhatsApp to discuss further details, court documents said.
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He helped her make travel arrangements, including a link to register for a visa waiver program and an instruction to tell U.S. immigration authorities that she was traveling for tourism rather than work. She flew from Italy to Detroit on Oct. 12, 2022, taking a bus to the East Lansing residence he co-owned with his mother, court documents said.
When she arrived at the home, she found “that all the windows of the ground floor were covered by newspapers” and “noticed that the house lacked toys, clothing, or evidence typical of a toddler living there.”
When pressed, Winfree told the victim that “she had to take care of the niece only two weeks per month” and asked her to instead clean his house.
The day after she arrived, while the victim cleaned his home, Winfree handcuffed her hands behind her back, placed a gag ball in her mouth, and raped her as he filmed the act and told her to say on camera loudly and repeatedly that she consented to the acts.
“I felt I was dying,” she said in court documents. “For the first time in my life, I prayed to God.”
Afterward, she told him she wanted to go back home to Italy. He told her not to say anything to anyone and intimidated her by saying he worked for the U.S. government, court documents said. He left her bound and alone in the room overnight. Then, at around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2022, he removed her restraints, ordered her to get dressed and pack, and then drove her to a bus stop where he left her.
The woman called her boyfriend in Italy, and her family arranged for her to return home. She arrived in Milan on the following day and went directly to a hospital where she was administered a rape kit, court documents said.
During a search of Winfree’s home that December, the FBI seized 10 firearms, more than 79 grams of cocaine, other narcotics, scales and other evidence of drug trafficking, and sexual stimulation devices, court documents said.
On a cellphone, authorities found photos of the Italian au pair naked and in compromising positions, with blood on a pillowcase by her face, court documents said.
Authorities also linked the defendant to another au pair and two minors.
He flew the other au pair to his home in September 2022. When she got there, she noticed that the home’s windows were covered and there were cameras, knives, and guns inside — but no signs of children. Her family called police requesting a welfare check two days after she arrived, and with the help of law enforcement, she was able to gather her things and return to Kansas, prosecutors said.
In one case involving a minor, Winfree picked up a 17-year-old high school student he’d been talking to on Instagram for months and engaged in sexual acts with her at his home, authorities said. On a camera in the bedroom, authorities found still photos of the teen engaged in sexual intercourse with Winfree, court documents said. In a case involving a second minor, he asked a 16-year-old girl to send him pictures of her on Snapchat and WhatsApp engaging in sexual acts.
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