Wife of a Tri-Cities man accused of sex trafficking kids also arrested

The wife of a Pasco man accused of grooming boys in Honduras for sex trafficking in the Tri-Cities was arrested Tuesday in Benton City, according to federal court documents.

Yamilex Atkinson, 29, is accused of obstructing the investigation into both trafficking related to forced labor and also sex trafficking of children by force, fraud and coercion.

Together the alleged crimes carry a prison sentence of up to 45 years.

She was arrested and appeared in a Richland federal court the same day, where she pleaded innocent.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Alexander Ekstrom ordered her held at least until another hearing on Thursday. She is in the Benton County jail, where her husband also is being held.

Court documents say she is accused of obstructing the investigation from April 8, the day her husband, Jonathan Michael Atkinson, was arrested, until May 7 when she was indicted by a grand jury.

He pleaded innocent to 11 criminal charges, including illicit sexual conduct; production of child pornography, attempted online enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children by force, fraud and coercion, as well as forced labor and harboring illegal aliens.

Together, the charges carry a maximum sentence of a lifetime in prison.

Poor children in Honduras

Jonathan Atkinson, 34, the owner of CRS Crossroad Services, manipulated victims for over a decade, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurel Holland alleged at a court hearing.

He found children living in poverty in Honduras as young as 8 and provide them with housing, schooling, food and gifts, such as electronic devices, Holland said.

Then he would force them to participate in sexual activities, and he told them they must send him sexually explicit videos and pictures if they wanted to come to the United States, according to Holland and court documents.

When they arrived in the U.S., they lived in a four-plex that he and his wife owned, Holland said.

The day that Jonathan Atkinson was arrested, law enforcement searched a multifamily home at 736 Elm Ave. in Pasco.

The minors he brought to Pasco worked for his company for unfair wages and would be forced to engage in sexual acts, Holland said.

If they refused, Jonathan Atkinson would threaten to contact immigration and to release videos of them to the pastor of the church they attended, Holland said.

Victims called Jonathan Atkinson “father” and he called them “son,” she said.

They were required to provide him with private information, such as their cellphone location and passwords to their social media accounts, according to a court document.

They were totally dependent on him and his wife, Yamilex Atkinson, Holland said.

Accused of removing victims

Immediately after Jonathan Atkinson was booked into the Benton County jail as a federal prisoner, he began seeking phone numbers for witnesses and victims, according to a court document filed in his case.

His wife’s phone was seized, but he called a witness to obtain her new number. She told him in a call that she would reach out and ask for letters of support, Holland said.

Instead, she allegedly tried to undermine witnesses, according to information at her husband’s court hearing.

Prosecutors allege Yamilex Atkinson removed the victims from a hotel where law enforcement officers had taken them, according to a court document in her husband’s case..

Anyone with information, including about other potential victims, is asked to contact the Pasco Police Department.