GORHAM – After hearing that she could be sold to a pimp in Boston, a 19-year old woman fled from three Gorham residents suspected in sex trafficking, according to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.

With a tip from Preble Street Teen Center in Portland, police arrested two men and a woman from Gorham on Monday. The arrests, which stunned the Gorham community, followed a sex trafficking investigation by a law enforcement coalition including Gorham and South Portland police departments and the FBI.

“I think people are floored,” Gorham Police Chief Ronald Shepard said on Wednesday.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Cumberland County Deputy District Attorney Megan Elam identified the three suspects as Klein Fernandes, 27; Tamika Dias, 34; and Jeremy Seeley, 31. Authorities said the three shared a home in Gorham at 19 Woodland Road, which is in a rural area of town.

The case involved the 19-year-old woman, a district attorney report said, who had been exploited and “required to engage in commercial sex acts.”

Authorities did not name the 19-year-old woman.

“I will not comment on the victim at all,” Gorham Detective Sgt. Dana Thompson said.

The three were expected to appear in court on Wednesday, March 19, in Portland, after the American Journal’s deadline.

The district attorney’s office said the three suspects shared the home at 19 Woodland Road. Dias bought the single-family, colonial-style home in 2010 for $220,000, according to Gorham tax information.

A neighbor of the three suspects said the Woodland Road area is a “pretty close” neighborhood.

“We knew there was something wrong,” the neighbor, who declined to be identified, said. “They scare everybody in the neighborhood.”

The district attorney’s office said a search warrant was executed at the home on March 14.

“All three defendants were interviewed at that time, and admitted to participating in a scheme to receive money from the proceeds of the commercial sexual exploitation of the 19-year-old girl,” the district attorney’s office said.

The district attorney’s office charged that the victim “was posted on the Internet website “Backpage.com” by Dias, and was transported to multiple locations in Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties by Fernandes and Seeley for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts with strangers.”

The arrests in Gorham underscored escalating incidents of human trafficking in the United States. “It’s sad but true: here in this country, people are being bought, sold, and smuggled like modern-day slaves,” the FBI website reports.

“No town or city is immune from this evil,” said Cindy Elder of Windham, who organized a group at South Gorham Baptist Church to raise public awareness and money to aid women victims. The group sponsors monthly supper meetings with guest speakers.

Elder is thankful a victim was able to flee.

“So many victims are not so fortunate,” she said.

According to the district attorney’s office, Dias and Fernandes were each charged with two counts of aggravated sex trafficking, a Class B crime that carries a possible punishment of imprisonment for 10 years for each offense. Seeley was charged with two counts of sex trafficking, a Class D crime punishable by up to a year in jail for each offense.

The Woodland Road neighbor, who declined to be identified, said there were small children and two dogs in the home where the three suspects live.

The Department of Health and Human Services “is involved with the family and beyond that I have no comment,” Thompson said.

Thompson said no weapons were found at the home.

The arrests followed an investigation by Gorham and South Portland police departments, the district attorney’s office, the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and the FBI. Thompson said state lines were not involved in the case.

“We are all part of a human trafficking coalition,” Thompson said, “so it is common for us to work together at times.”

Detective Sgt. Steven Webster of the South Portland Police Department played a role in the investigation and commented in general about human trafficking.

“The issue is more widespread than people realize,” Webster said.

Elder said traffickers are experts at seeking out girls, who are vulnerable, and promising them things like jobs, beautiful clothes, jewelry, or a romantic relationship.

“Traffickers gain control over these women by physically harming them or threatening to do so,” Elder said. “They also threaten to harm the girls’ families. Many times they get the girls addicted to drugs, pimp them out, and keep all or most of the money.”

Elam, who spoke last fall at one of the supper meetings at South Gorham Baptist Church, said in a statement this week that sex trafficking can happen everywhere and is a new challenge.

“Sex trafficking is not just a Third-World problem, nor is it just a big city problem.” Elam said. “It is happening in our own Maine communities with alarming frequency.”

Elam said that those engaged in prostitution might “very well be victims” more than criminals.

Daniella Cameron, manager of the Preble Street Anti-Trafficking Coalition, said in a statement, “As we see increasing numbers of people being trafficked, we are working closely with law enforcement and other service providers to keep these young women and other victims safe.”

Arrested on sex trafficking charges, Klein Fernandes, Tamika Dias and Jeremy Seeley shared this Gorham home at 19 Woodland Road that police searched on March 14.  Klein FernandesTamika DiasJeremy Seeley