East Lansing man accused of kidnapping Italian woman, multiple sexual assaults

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - An East Lansing man is accused of kidnapping and the sexual exploitation of a child.

According to an FBI affidavit, an Italian woman was hired as an au pair from a website in September by a man going by “Stryker” for a family in East Lansing. She flew to Michigan in October and when Stryker took her to his home on Highland Avenue, she said the first thing she noticed was that the windows were covered with newspapers.

She told the FBI she never saw evidence of a child living at the home.

The document said she alleged Stryker violently sexually assaulted her the morning after she arrived. He reportedly told her he worked for the U.S. government and took her phone, wallet and iPad.

The woman was allegedly left in the room handcuffed with her feet tied until 2 a.m. the next day, when Stryker released her and took her to a bus stop, where he paid for a bus ticket for her to go to the Detroit airport. He reportedly took all her money and removed the SIM card from her phone.

When she arrived home in Italy, she said she went straight to a hospital for medical treatment.

The document said the woman told the FBI how she met and was sexually assaulted by Stryker, who lied about his address. She reportedly told Stryker that she was not interested in a romantic relationship with anyone while in the United States and that she had a boyfriend.

In November, East Lansing police received reports of a 17-year-old girl being picked up from a high school and being taken to a man’s house for sex. Her parents were unable to find her when they went to pick her up from school and were unable to reach her. The court document said the girl was with a man called “Hunter,” who she met online and took her back to his residence, near the Hannah Center.

The girl went to Hunter’s house, where they reportedly had sex.

In December, the girl consented to having the FBI conduct a forensic exam of her phone, which reportedly had photos of the teen taken between Nov. 18 and Nov. 30. The FBI said the images constituted as child pornography.

The phone also had text messages on Instagram between the girl and Hunter which contained photos, but they were deleted from the messages. The document said the girl told police she sent the images to Hunter on Instagram.

The court document identified Hunter and Stryker as Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, based on his address, vehicles, and account profile on AuPair.com, where he reportedly used “we” and described being a part of a family or had multiple members in the household. The FBI said Winfree lives alone at his Highland Avenue residence.

The house was raided by authorities Dec. 12, where FBI reportedly seized 10 guns, sex toys, electronic devices and what they believed was cocaine and narcotics. The court document said the way the cocaine was packaged, the presence of a digital scale and a coffee grinder with suspected cocaine residue is consistent with drug trafficking.

The search also reportedly found images and videos of the teen girl having sex with Winfree, photographs of the Italian woman naked and videos of her assault.

The court documents allege they found text messages between Winfree and a 16-year-old where he requests naked photos. Another phone reportedly had conversations regarding narcotics distribution.

The court document stated that there is probable cause that Winfree has committed multiple federal crimes, including kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a child.

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