East Lansing man convicted of raping woman lured from Italy as an au pair

LANSING – An East Lansing man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman who came to the U.S. to become an au pair was sentenced Monday to life in federal prison.

Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree, 32, pleaded no contest to five felonies in federal court in April. He was accused of sexually exploiting four women, including two minors, in 2022.

“Arisknight Arkin-Everett Winfree is a sexual predator whose heinous acts caused immeasurable harm to the women and girls he preyed upon,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said after Monday’s sentencing hearing by U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou.

The life sentence for Winfrey “secures a measure of justice” for his victims, Totten said.

Winfree was charged in early 2023 with kidnapping, coercing and enticing a person to travel for the purpose of illegal sexual activity, attempted coercion and enticement and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

In a second case, Winfree pleaded no contest to two charges of producing child pornography after coercing 16- and 17-year-old girls to send him nude photos via social media apps. He picked the 17-year-old up from school and filmed him having sex with her, the U.S. attorney said.

A no contest plea is not a formal admission of guilt, but is treated as a conviction.

Winfree used the website AuPair.com to create a false listing to lure au pairs to his home, where he planned to sexually abuse them, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

One woman, an 18-year-old from Kansas, responded to the ad and came to Michigan.

East Lansing police went to a home where Winfree lived in the 300 block of Highland Avenue in September 2023, court records show. The Kansas girl who was hired as an au pair, even though she was a sister, asked to be escorted from her home by police because she felt uncomfortable, according to the affidavit.

East Lansing police and the two women found no photos, toys or other evidence that would indicate a niece or other children lived in Winfree’s home, according to court records.

Police discovered that the windows were covered with paper from the inside and numerous surveillance cameras were visible outside.

A second woman, from Italy, later came to Michigan and Winfree was accused of handcuffing, tying her up and raping her, the U.S. attorney said.

Shortly after waking up from her first night in East Lansing in October, the woman said she was attacked, with Winfree filming her and forcing her to say she consented. After leaving her tied up for a day, Winfree stole her money and her phone’s SIM card and dropped her off at a bus station in the middle of the night, according to the FBI affidavit.

The woman said she returned to Italy and went to an Italian hospital after returning home. The allegations were reported to East Lansing police within a week of the reported attacks. Subsequent interviews with the woman led to the federal criminal complaint.

According to court records, police raided Winfree’s home in December 2023 and seized 10 firearms, nearly 80 grams of “suspected cocaine” and electronic devices including phones.

Winfree, prosecutors said, spoke with a friend, Paul Heiselman, and told him he planned to kill the Italian woman and dispose of her body to avoid detection or prosecution, the release said.

Heiselman was sentenced in April to 41 months in prison for possessing some of the child pornography that Winfree produced from his interactions with the teens. After receiving one of those videos of child pornography, Heiselman commented, “She’s ready for the cameras,” the U.S. attorney said, an apparent reference to creating amateur porn for wider distribution.

East Lansing Police, Michigan State University Police and the FBI investigated the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

“The East Lansing Police Department would like to thank the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan for their efforts in this case,” East Lansing Police Chief Chad Pride said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “The conviction of Arisknight Winfree on multiple charges demonstrates that our collaborative partnerships were essential to bringing justice to the survivors of these terrible acts and to holding Arisknight accountable for his actions.”

On Monday, Totten called on people to be wary of anyone they encounter on the internet.

“Don’t assume people are who they say they are,” he said.

Parents should talk to their children about the dangers of social media and let them know they can talk to them if something is wrong, he said.

Contact Ken Palmer at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.