Arisknight Winfree Planned to Kill the Woman and Hide Her Body to Avoid Prosecution

Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree bound and raped Au Pair and sexual activity of two minors

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan announced February 14, 2023, that a grand jury returned an indictment of 5 charges against Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree of East Lansing, Michigan. The charges included kidnapping, coercing, and enticing someone to travel for the purposes of illegal sexual activity, attempted coercion, and enticement. According to U.S Attorney Mark Totten “These alleged crimes, and the facts behind them, portray an online predator who methodically planned and executed his criminal scheme. We are handling this case with the utmost seriousness and will continue to work every day to protect the public – and especially our young people – from those online who would do them harm.”  

The indictment alleges Winfree posted a false advertisement for an au pair, arranged for the teen to come from Italy to East Lansing to work for him, and then kidnapped and raped her.  Once she arrived Winfree demanded the Italian teen clean his house before handcuffing her, placing a ball gag in her mouth, and raping her. Winfree used his false au pair advertisement to lure another teenager to travel to his house, this one from Kansas. When her family realized the situation was not safe, they contacted the police, who responded and removed her from Winfree’s house.

Winfree is also charged with sexual exploitation of two minor girls for producing child sexual abuse material of them. The defendant recorded himself having sexual intercourse with one of the girls, and he convinced the other to send him pornographic videos through the smartphone app SnapChat. Winfree stated to a friend in a text message that he wanted to use one of the girls to recruit more high school girls for him to exploit sexually.

On April 10, 2024, U.S Attorney Mark Totten announced that Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, of East Lansing, Michigan, pleaded no contest to the 5 counts against him. Mark Totten said “Winfree posed a danger to the whole world from his home here in West Michigan. My office will do everything in its power to seek out and prosecute perpetrators like him, who use the internet to exploit others. To the victims, we stand ready to listen and to protect. And to everyone who uses the internet, be vigilant: you never know for sure who is on the other side of the screen.”

(Departnent of Justice , 2024)