3 accused of pimping plead not guilty to torture, kidnapping

Three suspects accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman in a Costa Mesa motel room pleaded not guilty Monday to human trafficking and other felonies.

Renice Stevenson Flores-Davis, 26, Oscar Gonzalez-Salinas, 33, and Cierra Rose Thompson, 27, were arraigned in Orange County Superior Court on allegations of burning and beating a woman who police said worked as a prostitute for the trio.

Each defendant faces seven felony charges, including torture, human trafficking, kidnapping, mayhem, pimping, pandering and assault with a deadly weapon with a sentencing enhancement for great bodily harm.

The Orange County district attorney’s office said previously that the three could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Costa Mesa police arrested Flores-Davis, Gonzalez-Salinas and Thompson in July after receiving a tip that they were holding a woman against her will.

According to police, the unidentified woman began working for Flores-Davis as a prostitute after they met during a drug deal. Weeks later, the woman managed to send a Facebook message to a friend with her location, authorities said.

Police arrived at the Days Inn on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa and found the woman, allegedly with burns on her body from irons and methamphetamine pipes.

According to prosecutors, the woman’s kidnappers also would beat her and pour water down her nose and throat.

Flores-Davis’ defense attorney Robert Helfend declined to comment. Lawyers for Gonzalez-Salinas and Thompson could not be reached.

All three defendants are being held without bail, according to jail records.