Teen Runaway Saved From Prostitution —by Uber Driver

He got suspicious after picking her up along with 2 women
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2016 12:42 PM CST
Teen Runaway Saved From Prostitution —by Uber Driver
Stock image.   (Getty Images)

A California Uber driver played a big part in a holiday miracle Monday night after picking up a 16-year-old girl and two women in Elk Grove. He got suspicious after the women, who cops say are pimps, started telling the scantily-clad teen what would happen when they got to their destination, a Holiday Inn: "Check for guns, get the money before you start touching the guy," driver Keith Avila said in a Facebook Live video that night. Avila, who even overheard the room number where the encounter would take place, dropped the group off and then called police. Authorities arrived, and three people were arrested.

Destiny Pettway, 25, and Maria Westley, 31, were arrested on pimping and pandering charges and are currently behind bars, ABC 10 reports. Disney Vang, the 20-year-old man the teen was allegedly going to meet, was allegedly found inside the hotel room with the teen and arrested on charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor; he's out on bail. The teen turned out to be a runaway who had been reported missing, and police told Avila, 34, that she has since been reunited with her family. It "gave me chills" to hear that, he tells the Daily Beast. (A woman says she was held captive as a sex slave for 13 years by a cab driver.)

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