A 21-year-old Detroit man accused of sex trafficking a 15-year-old runaway wrote a personal letter to his judge saying he's really just a "good man in a misunderstood situation."

Malik McCaster, who's accused in federal court of child sex trafficking, child exploitation and possessing or producing child pornography, in his Aug. 24 handwritten note asked the judge to release him on bond pending trial.

Malik McCaster Trafficking Letter for Bond by Fergus Burns on Scribd

Police responded to a 911 call at the Gemini Motel in Redford Township after the 15-year-old victim allegedly escaped McCaster about 2 a.m. July 12 and alerted a motel occupant she was being held against her will.

Police arrived and McCaster attempted to flee in a vehicle but was stopped and arrested, the federal complaint says.

The victim told police she met McCaster at a fireworks show July 3, two days before her the girl's parents reported her as a runaway in Sanilac County.

On July 4, McCaster offered to give the girl a ride home, but once he'd coaxed into his vehicle, McCaster took her elsewhere.

"McCaster assaulted her and told her he would kill her if she tried to leave" and threw her cell phone out the car window, the complaint says. Over the next eight days, investigators say McCaster beat, threatened, sexually assaulted and prostituted the girl.

McCaster isn't charged in federal or state court with any counts of sexual assault.

McCaster recorded cell phone video of the victim performing oral sex on him, forced her to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, took sexually explicit pictures of her, advertised her availability for sexual encounters in online Craigslist classified ads and threatened her with with a gun while holding her captive at his cousin's home on Outer Drive in Detroit for nearly a week, the complaint says.

During her initial interview, the girl told police she'd never been forced by McCaster to participate in prostitution, but later admitted she lied because of she feared McCaster.

A review of McCaster's cell phone revealed advertisements for prostitution that McCaster allegedly created that included pictures of the victim in a maid's outfit with her breasts exposed, and another of her in just her underwear.

The girl told police that her friend initially deceived McCaster, telling him the underage victim was 18. When the victim and McCaster were later together at the home on Outer Drive -- before the prostitution ads were posted online -- she tells police she revealed her true age.

McCaster has been jailed without bond since being charged federally on July 31.

"I am no saint; neither am I perfect," McCaster wrote to his judge in his request for bond.

McCaster says he is a father of a 3-year-old girl, takes care of his two younger brothers, works as a roofer and attends Schoolcraft College, where he studies digital media.

"I ask that you can find it in your heart to give me a bond so that I can get back to my job, school and my family," McCaster writes. " ... I have a lot of responsibility on the outside life that I cannot keep under control while I am here."

McCaster will be celebrating his 22nd birthday on Aug. 31. Being released on bond would "be the best birthday a 21-year-old innocent man could ask for," McCaster wrote.

Full federal complaint: