(Stillwater, Okla.) — An Oklahoma City woman — who allegedly advertised her prostitution services on an Internet website — was charged Monday with committing an armed robbery with two unknown males at a Stillwater apartment where three people were threatened at gunpoint last year.
An arrest warrant was issued Monday for Karen Marie Sinisterra, 25, who already was being sought on bench warrants for failure to appear in court three months ago on Payne County charges of soliciting prostitution and driving under suspension, both in Stillwater.
Sinisterra was charged Monday in an Oct. 28, 2013, armed home invasion robbery at Tradan Heights Apartments in Stillwater — after a test showed that her DNA matched DNA taken from a swab on a cell phone dropped at the crime scene, a police affidavit alleged.
On that date, shortly before 3 a.m., two residents of the apartment and a friend reported they had been robbed by two black males and a light-skinned black female, Stillwater Police Detective Cody Manuel wrote in an affidavit.
One of the two male residents of the apartment and his girlfriend “had been forced into the floor and made to crawl to a closet,” while the other male resident had been pistol-whipped by one of the male suspects, the affidavit said.
“The female suspect then bound him with an electrical cord and placed clothing items over his eyes and in his mouth,” the affidavit said. “The suspects went through the apartment stealing property and then carrying it away when they fled,” the affidavit said.
After the detective obtained a search warrant for the contents of the cell phone left at the scene, “a subsequent search showed the user had been advertising for prostitution services on the website Backpage.com and had been in phone contact” prior to the robbery with the male victim who was pistol-whipped, the affidavit alleged.
The detective said the victim “had contacted a female on the recovered phone who agreed to meet him at his apartment. The female arrived and after a few minutes opened the front door to allow the two other male suspects to enter. This is when the robbery began,” the affidavit said.
The detective wrote in his affidavit, “I began monitoring Backpage.com prostitution advertisements and developed a plan to lure the female suspect to a location under the pretext of a prostitution deal.”
“A woman named Karen Sinisterra responded to the prearranged location in response to a phone call for prostitution services,” the affidavit alleged.
On the detective’s request, Sinisterra was arrested for driving under suspension as she left a Stillwater motel on Jan. 14, court records show. After the detective showed a photographic line-up to the male victim who had been pistol-whipped during the robbery, he positively identified Sinisterra as the female suspect in the hold-up, the affidavit alleged.
According to the charge, that victim was robbed of an Apple laptop computer and $300 in cash, while the other two victims were robbed of an Apple Macbook computer, a Fossil wallet, $70 in cash, three debit cards, a pilot’s license and an Apple cell phone.
If convicted of two counts of robbery by two or more persons, Sinisterra could be given a prison sentence ranging from 10 years to 100 years, court records show.
A month after the robbery, Sinisterra was charged in Payne County with soliciting prostitution by making arrangements by phone with an undercover law enforcement officer to meet at a Stillwater hotel and allegedly charging $180 for her sexual acts.
If convicted of soliciting prostitution on Nov. 7, 2013, Sinisterra could be given a one-year jail term and fined $2,500, court records show. If convicted of driving under suspension in Stillwater on Jan. 24, 2014, she could be given a one-year jail term and fined $500, court records show.
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