A local woman who was kept in a dog cage as a sex slave in Augusta was rescued, and five people arrested for kidnapping and false imprisonment, authorities said Wednesday.
Anjelika Figueroa, Shonna Powell, DeMichael Dawson, Savannah Piazzi and Dawson Weston have all been arrested in the kidnapping, assault and imprisonment of the 20-year-old woman. The victim was badly beaten and taken to the hospital late Tuesday for treatment.
A former roommate of suspect Shonna Powell alerted authorities to the caged victim in a phone call Tuesday night. He said he had recently got out of jail and went to Powell’s home on Nellie Drive to retrieve his belongings.
MORE: Charles Walker transaction shows need for greater accountability in city government
MORE: Documents show overlap in Columbia County officials’ work for other counties
“Upon entering the room, he observed an unknown light brown-skinned female that was naked, beaten severely, and currently locked in a dog cage,” a sheriff’s report says. “She asked him for help.”
Powell then told her former roommate that the victim was her “whore.”
“She stole a bunch of stuff from me so she is going to be my sex slave and I am going to pimp her out until she pays it off,” Powell reportedly said.
The witness said he heard a person say that multiple people were on their way to “have their way with her,” which he told officers “basically meant to rape her,” the sheriff report says.
The witness said an unknown black male had pointed a firearm at him when he first arrived, due to not knowing who he was. He said he knew that Dawson Weston was at the residence.
“(He) stated that deputies needed to get in that house because he feared for the female’s safety,” the report says.
Anjelika Figueroa was later identified as a suspect involved in the kidnapping.
At the home, officers ordered anyone to come out with their hands up and even attempted to call Shawna Powell by name in case it was her. Demichael Weston soon exited the home and said there were more people inside. Three pit bulls were released by officers. They officers entered the home and observed an empty cage as well as both human and animal feces in different rooms throughout the residence. They found the victim in a bedroom.
“Upon exiting the room into the lighted living room … we could visibly observe that she had multiple injuries to her facial areas, primarily her left eye being severely swollen and bruised,” the report says. “The unknown female was then escorted out of the residence and to safety.”
Gold Cross was then requested by deputies on the perimeter for her injuries.
Shawna Powell finally exited the room and claimed she had been sleeping.
(The Austin Rhodes Show contributed to this breaking story.)
