Sex for bail.
That's what a Hamilton County woman told a judge happened to her.
She says a man made her have sex with his friends after he posted her bond.
Hamilton County Judge Nadine Allen believes the suspect possibly used the county's court website to search for women, and then force them into prostitution.
The alleged victim, Caressa Brunelle, told the judge the suspect posted her $100 bond and then made her sleep with his friends in order to repay him.
Allen, says she was sentencing the alleged victim on a domestic violence conviction, when two men walked into her courtroom.
"Often times, when you see a young woman who has a solicitation and prostitution conviction and has a drug problem, there is often a so-called friend, or fiance or employer who is in the courtroom. But for me, I know I'm starting to look for a pimp," Judge Allen said.
Allen says she stopped the proceedings and asked the men why they were there.
She says one of the men, 28-year-old, Jason Lee, told her he had posted a $100 bond for Brunelle and he wanted to get his bond money back.
"That's when the defendant in front of me, her name is Miss. Brunelle, she claimed that this man had gotten her out of jail and then forced her to have sex with his friends," Allen said.
"And at that point, it sounded like a rape case so I ordered him held for rape, if not for that, importuning," Allen said.
Lee told 9News by phone that he was innocent.
"In the courtroom when they said that, I said that's not what happened. And she [Brunelle] just kind of looked at me and just smiled," Lee said.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office says the allegations are unfounded.
Investigators looked into the case and Brunelle refused to talk to detectives after making the claims in Judge Allen's courtroom.
The Clerk of Courts says the suspect did bail one other woman out of jail last year.
"In this case, this individual would have had to do the check by name," Gregg Hartmann, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, explained. "You can't go to check by charges, for instance, to check to whether a person has been arrested for prostitution. You can't go check that."
