Three arrested on human trafficking or child neglect charges related to previous arrests for lewd/lascivious battery on 15-year-old girl

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A new charge against Mariam Foster, 42, has revealed more details about the trafficking of a 15-year-old girl that resulted in the previous arrests of Donovan Grimes and Darren Sheppard for lewd/lascivious battery.

According to the arrest report charging Foster with child neglect, the victim disclosed in a trauma-informed interview that she was trafficked by Allison Reshena Berry, 42. Berry was arrested on April 11 and charged with human trafficking of a child under 18, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, and child neglect, but no further information was available at that time, due to the nature of the charges.

Court documents reveal that during a period when Foster, the victim’s mother, was homeless and living in a car and various motels, Berry offered to let the victim live with her. The victim said she became addicted to “molly” while staying with Berry because Berry also “smoked it a lot.” The victim said that a few days after she arrived at the residence, Berry said her mother wasn’t paying for her to live there, so she needed to perform sexual acts to make money.

The victim said that when this first came up and Berry asked her to perform sexual acts on a man who gave them a ride, she told Berry she wasn’t interested in doing anything and tried to call her mother to come get her. The victim said her mother did not answer the phone and Berry told her she couldn’t leave and locked her in the bedroom upstairs.

The victim said that later that night, Berry returned to her bedroom with a handgun, pointed it at the victim, and told her she needed to have sex with the man, so she did. The victim said that about 15 men paid Berry to have sex with her. Berry allegedly received small amounts of cash and drugs, specifically “molly,” from the men, for the child’s services, and the victim also received “molly.” The victim said she became addicted to “molly” and knew she had to keep having sex with men for Berry to get more “molly.”

A few days after the first incident, Berry allegedly walked the victim over to the house of Kebris Doctaurus Jelks, 46, her next-door neighbor, where Jelks allegedly had sex with the victim and gave her $50 and “molly,” with instructions for her to give it to Berry. The victim described Jelks as a regular “client” of Berry’s.

Jelks was also arrested on April 11 and charged with human trafficking of a child under 18 and two counts of sexual assault on a victim under 18 with no use of physical force.

The victim said she lived with Berry from mid-April to early May in 2023 until she briefly entered a mental health facility. When she was released, she said she lived with Jelks for about a week before she was placed under the care of Foster (Foster was in jail until the latter part of May 2023). The victim reportedly said that her bed in Jelks’ residence did not have any sheets on it and provided photos from that residence.

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office reportedly has photos of Jelks’ apartment because they responded to a death investigation of a woman there in October 2022. Jelks’ arrest report notes that similarities between these photos and the victim’s photos confirm that the victim was in Jelks’ bedroom.

The victim said that when she went to live with Foster, she told her what had happened with Berry and Jelks. She also reportedly said that Foster gave her “molly” and that Foster smoked it with her.

Donovan Grimes allegedly stayed in motel rooms with Foster and the victim from the summer of 2023 through the end of 2023, the victim told officers that she and Grimes were sexually active “for [the] majority of their relationship.” A witness who knew the victim and her mother reportedly said the victim’s mother was “fully aware” of the sexual activity between Grimes and the girl and that she allowed them to continue that activity.

In November 2023, Grimes was arrested and spent about 10 days in jail; during that time, Foster allegedly took the victim to stay with Sheppard. While the victim was staying with Sheppard, he allegedly had sexual intercourse with her and was fully aware that she was 15 years old.

Berry has one misdemeanor conviction for domestic battery. This week, Judge David Kreider granted the State Attorney’s motion to hold her without bail until trial.

Foster was arrested on April 11 on other charges; the new arrest report notes that she will also be charged with child neglect in three other cases. She has 20 felony convictions (none violent) and two misdemeanor convictions (none violent). She has served two state prison sentences, with her most recent release in 2019. She was charged with child neglect in 2022, but the charge was dropped. She was on pre-trial release on two drug cases from 2023. She is being held on $165,000 bail.

Jelks has at least five felony convictions, mostly drug-related. This week, Judge Kreider granted the State Attorney’s motion to hold him without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.