St. Paul woman charged with sex trafficking in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD ― A St. Paul woman faces felony prostitution and sex trafficking charges after allegedly solicitating prostitution in St. Cloud, according to a criminal complaint filed in Stearns County court.

Shaqouia Mae Hoffman, 34, is charged with three felonies for engaging in sex trafficking, promoting prostitution of an individual and profiting from prostitution.

According to police, an investigator with the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force began investigating Hoffman in June after finding an advertisement for prostitution on a website known by investigators to be used for the solicitation of prostitution. The investigator messaged the advertiser using a decoy phone number and agreed to pay $100 for a sex act. The investigator then staked out a hotel in St. Cloud, where he was told to meet a woman, the criminal complaint said.

The investigator spoke with a man who admitted that he paid for sex at the hotel and found the same prostitution ad on a different website. The investigator drafted and received a signed search warrant for the hotel room later that day.

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A woman in the room denied engaging in prostitution that day, according to the complaint. Hoffman, who booked the hotel room, was arrested on felony possession of a controlled substance and had $574 on her.

The investigator continued the investigation in the following months by executing search warrants on phones, TextNow numbers, CashApp accounts and other items. Through that investigation he learned other men had paid for sex while at the hotel and later on, the criminal complaint said.

TextNow records showed Hoffman was communicating with sex buyers and the woman identified in the hotel room. Hotel receipts were also found in Hoffman's name in Burnsville and Eau Claire, Wisconsin in June and July, police said.

Hoffman had no court dates scheduled as of Wednesday.