A Maryland man faces sex trafficking and prostitution charges after his April 1 arrest at a Laurel home.
Robert Eakins, 31, was also wanted in connection with an armed robbery in Charles County.
Police said the sex-trafficking investigation started two to three weeks earlier, when an anonymous tipster said a woman at the house was being pressured into sex work.
They also said Eakins was taken into custody without incident, but that he first attempted to evade officers by ducking into a crawl space under a porch.
Footage from a body camera shows officers removing a panel from the porch, and Eakins emerging from the opening to be detained.
An emergency response team made up of Laurel and Greenbelt police officers received assistance from a drone while executing a search warrant on Eakins’ home and locating the alleged victim.
Prior to the April 1 raid, the drone’s infrared camera recorded someone leaving the house and heading to a nearby parking lot, Capt. Stephen Ivory told WTOP.
A detective sent to talk to the person identified her as the alleged sex-trafficking victim who was there to meet a client. Police said they got her away safely and reunited her with her family.
The video the Laurel Police Department released to the public includes drone footage showing several officers approaching the house and eventually taking Eakins away.
Drones are “relatively new technology for us,” Ivory said.
He said that as more operators are trained and receive FAA certification to pilot the drones, police in Laurel are beginning to use them more frequently. But right now, they are used only for preplanned operations, providing an additional vantage point for the officers on the ground.
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