D.C. Police say 42-year-old Larona Steele lured three boys, ages 12, 13 and 15, to her apartment in Northeast Washington and forced them to perform sex acts. (WUSA)

D.C. Police say 42-year-old Larona Steele lured three boys, ages 12, 13 and 15, to her apartment in Northeast Washington and forced them to perform sex acts. (WUSA)

She was known around the neighborhood in Northeast Washington as “Ronnie,” and children told police that she sometimes plied them with candy and treats, and hugged them too tightly for comfort.

On the afternoon of June 30, three boys, ages 12, 13 and 15, told police that the 42-year-old woman lured them into her first-floor apartment on Clay Place, locked the front door and told them: “Y’all not going nowhere. Sit down.”

D.C. police said in an arrest affidavit filed in court that the woman, identified as Larona Steele, danced for the children, undressed and forced them to perform sex acts with her. One of the youths took a video during some of the sex acts, according to the court records.

Steele was arrested Tuesday and charged with five counts of child sex abuse after an adult family member of two of the boys filed a complaint with the police department’s youth division.

Steele, of the 3500 block of Clay Place NE, near Minnesota Avenue at Benning Road, is free pending her next court hearing. She could not be reached for comment Thursday, and the D.C. Public Defender Service, which is representing her, did not respond to interview requests.

The arrest affidavit says Steele told police that “she was intoxicated on the day of the incident and does not recall” if she had sex with the children.

The arrest affidavit says Steele has lived in the two-story apartment building for a few months. Residents said the area usually teems with children, cookouts and car washes, although it was quiet Thursday afternoon. A woman who said she was Steele’s daughter banged on the exterior door of the building but was unable to enter.

The arrest affidavit filed in court alleges that Steele approached the boys as they sat on the front steps of the building. The document says she offered them ice cream and popcorn.

Several residents who passed by Thursday muttered words of disgust about the accusations. “I just don’t understand,” said Anthony Stevens, 36, who lives in the complex.

Calvin Smith, 55, who lives a few blocks down the street with his teenage children, said the area in front of the apartment building is typically busy — “grown men, teenagers, kids. It’s rush hour 24/7 out here,” he said.

Steele has been arrested previously, including on a prostitution charge along West Virginia Avenue NE in 2012 for allegedly offering to perform a sex act for $30. “I’ll be a good friend to take care of you for not that much money,” Steele told the officer, according to the arrest affidavit. Prosecutors dropped a solicitation charge in exchange for Steele entering a diversion program designed to get her assistance rather than being jailed.

A pretrial report filed this week with her latest arrest says she completed a high school equivalency degree, is unemployed and has three children, one of whom lives with her. Asked to list “other means of legal support,” she wrote, “Odd jobs.”

After allegedly luring the three boys inside, police said in arrest files, Steele gave them the food and “then turned on music and started to dance.”

Police said in the affidavit that the 12-year-old “reported feeling uncomfortable and wanted to leave.” But when he got up, police said, Steele double locked the front door. She then told the children to go into her bedroom to look at pictures of her when she was younger, police said. When one boy again tried to walk away, police said, Steele “pulled him by his shirt to the room.”

Police described the bedroom as having two beds, one with pink sheets, the other white sheets, and said that Steele began to dance on the lap of one of the boys as she undressed. She then told the boys to undress and join her on the bed, police said.

There, the arrest affidavit says, she ordered the boys to engage in various sex acts. Two of the boys told police that Steele said “not to tell anyone because she could get into trouble,” the arrest warrant states.

Police said the 12-year-old escaped by excusing himself to the bathroom and then made it out to the hallway, where he dressed and went home. Police said Steele then forced the other two boys to continue with sex acts.

One of the youths told police that they were familiar with Steele because she “greeted him and other children frequently, offering them food,” according to the affidavit. The boy told police that she would “hug him and rub his chest areas making him uncomfortable.”

Previous addresses for Steele include Minnesota Avenue SE and Naylor Road SE. She also once lived in Columbia, Md.

Police said in a statement issued Wednesday evening that “anyone who has had past inappropriate encounters with the suspect or has information that would assist the investigation” should call police.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that police said in an affidavit that Steele recorded video of some sexual acts with the juveniles. The affidavit said one of the youths recorded the video.