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Prostitute tortured, held captive in motels for a week, police say; 3 arrested

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A group of kidnappers tortured a prostitute in Costa Mesa and Westminster motel rooms for about a week before officers were able to free her, authorities said Tuesday.

Police said they found the 26-year-old woman bruised and burned Monday evening in a motel room on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa.

She had been held against her will while her kidnappers intermittently beat her or pressed hot glass drug pipes against her skin, police said. She was taken Monday to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and then transferred to a women’s shelter.

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Officers found the unidentified woman at the motel with Renice Stevenson Flores-Davis, a 26-year-old Costa Mesa man, and Cierra Rose Thompson, 27, of Oregon, police said. Flores-Davis and Thompson were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking.

Police believe Flores-Davis kidnapped the woman with the help of two conspirators.

Police said the woman had been working for Flores-Davis as a prostitute throughout Orange County after the two met during a drug deal at a Costa Mesa motel.

About a week ago, police said, Flores-Davis forced the woman to stay with him at a motel in Westminster, often keeping her blindfolded and tied up in a closet.

She and her family were threatened with death if she tried to escape, and at one point, she was severely burned with an iron, police said.

Last week, Westminster police told other local law enforcement officials that they were looking for Flores-Davis in connection with a human-trafficking case. They had been told he was holding a woman at a motel, but when officers got there, it was too late, police said.

Around 6 p.m. Monday, Costa Mesa police received a similar tip.

The woman managed to send a Facebook message asking for help, and the recipient called the Costa Mesa Police Department with her location. Police found the woman with Flores-Davis and Thompson at the Days Inn just off the 55 Freeway.

The earlier tip to Westminster police included information about a white Dodge truck. When Costa Mesa police called in a helicopter, they found the truck and a third suspect down the street at another motel, authorities said.

At the Starr Inn, police arrested Oscar Gonzalez-Salinas, 33, of Costa Mesa on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap.

All three suspects probably will face charges of kidnapping, mayhem, torture, human trafficking and conspiracy, police said.

Gonzalez-Salinas and Thompson are being held in lieu of $1 million bail, and Flores-Davis is being held without bail, police said.

Costa Mesa and Westminster police and the Orange County district attorney’s office are investigating.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Costa Mesa police Det. Bang Le at (714) 754-5361 or Sgt. Ed Everett at (714) 754-5395.

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