Sex offender indicted on charges of child trafficking and pandering by prostitution

CALCASIEU PARISH, LA (KPLC) - A registered sex offender accused of leading a 16-year-old runaway into prostitution was indicted Thursday.

Lake Charles man Mark Anthony Cook Jr., 26, was indicted on charges of pandering by prostitution and trafficking of a children for sexual purposes.

Houston police called Calcasieu authorities to say that the girl's cell phone indicated she was at hotel on Lake Street, according to information from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office. An undercover agent met with the girl and detained her. Cook admitted to detectives that he picked the girl up in Alexandria and brought her to Lake Charles to "pimp her out," said Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office Kim Myers.

Cook, who was convicted of carnal knowledge of a juvenile in 2012, is being held without bond at Calcasieu Correctional Center.

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