Lake Orion men held woman as sex slave, police say

Mike Martindale / The Detroit News

Lake Orion -- Two Lake Orion men face charges they held a 52-year-old caretaker in their lakeside home against her will for nearly two months, subjecting her to repeated sexual assaults and beatings and offering to "sell" her to an acquaintance for $5.

Leon Jeffery Setty, 54, and Frank Brian Bennett, 47, are in the Oakland County Jail on $1 million bond each pending a preliminary exam conference Tuesday before Rochester Hills 52-3 District Judge Julie Nicholson. Setty is charged with four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and Bennett with five counts.

The charges are each punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh said both men lived at the Bellevue Avenue address. Both are longtime residents of the area who do seasonal work around the lake, putting in and taking out docks for residents, he said.

"It's a bizarre case -- very disturbing," Narsh said. "If it wasn't for the help she got, who knows what might have happened?"

The woman did not report the abuse because "she believed it very credible they were capable of seriously harming her," Narsh said. "She had been beaten several times ... they said would kill her if she didn't comply with their wishes or attempted to leave."

The woman was left alone at times and allowed to leave for brief periods -- usually to make a run to a local store to pick up alcohol for the two men. "But the fear kept her there. Kept her a prisoner."

The Orion Township woman told investigators the abuse began shortly after the two men hired her as a live-in caretaker in September. They threatened to harm her and her relatives, including a teenage girl, if she ever reported them, she told police. The woman told police the pair kept her drunk and used her daily as a "sex slave."

Police finally became involved when Narsh said the pair tried to "sell" her services to a 31-year-old acquaintance of the pair on Nov. 7, but he declined.

"She was laying on a couch, covered with a blanket, and one of the men pulled off the blanket to show her partially nude body and offered to sell her to him for $5," Narsh said. "When he declined, they even offered her for free."

Narsh said when Setty and Bennett fell asleep, the Lapeer man took the woman to police.

"Later that night, he got her out of there and brought her here," Narsh said. "She corroborated his statements. He was disgusted by what he saw and wanted to get her to safety. He stayed there that night with that intent. Lucky for her."

Setty's criminal history includes a 2003 home invasion; 1997 drug charges and a 1975 rape and armed robbery.

mmartindale@detnews.com (248) 338-0319