James Pilcher and Henry Molski

The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — In a case that sounds straight out of a horror movie, a Cincinnati man pleaded guilty Friday to locking women in an Avondale house , physically abusing them and selling them for sex here and in other cities.

And according to court documents obtained by The Enquirer, the Cincinnati Police Department may have known since last year that at least one woman was being kept there against her will.

Christopher Hisle, 45, was initially arrested by the FBI near a hotel in Louisville, Ky., in April. He had brought two women there to act as prostitutes, according to the federal court documents and FBI statements. That led federal investigators to discover that Hisle was keeping women captive at the tan three-story house in the 900 block of Lexington Avenue.

An Enquirer analysis of court and property records shows that Hisle had a previous history of sex and drug crimes. Those included several disorderly conduct and minor drug offenses. Last fall, he also faced charges of operating a sexually oriented business without a license for illegally running a strip club at his now defunct bar in Cincinnati.

Hisle was a known entity to the Cincinnati Police Department, according to the initial court statement issued by FBI special agent Niclolas Zarro. In that statement, Zarro said:

"Cincinnati police reported to UC (undercover agent) that approximately one year ago, VICTIM #1 was found in the home of CHRISTOPHER HISLE and was unable to freely leave."

Cincinnati police officials declined initial comment Saturday on whether they knew about Hisle's business and potential kidnapping and slavery operation.

The case is eerily similar to that of Ariel Castro in Cleveland, who kidnapped three women and held them captive for several years, although he was never charged with sex trafficking.

In fact, one of the women escaped the Avondale house last year, but Hisle tracked her down and brought her back, according to federal attorneys.

Hisle's wife, Paulette, is listed as the owner of the home, which was bought in 1999 for $57,000. It is listed as a rental property.

In 2005, Paulette Hisle filed charges alleging that Hisle physically assaulted her, but the charges were later dismissed in 2007.

Efforts to reach Paulette Hisle were unsuccessful. Document and web searches indicate that the couple lived together in a separate home in Colerain.

Those who live near the Avondale home and the Hisles' home in Colerain gave mixed reports of what they saw.

One woman in Avondale said that the house was quiet.

"My jaw hit the floor when I heard his name on the news," said the woman, who asked not to be identified. "On Mother's Day a few years ago, he came over and cut my grass.​"

In Colerain, one neighbor said that she was moving away because "of the bunch of trouble that house makes."

"No one knows what's going on over there but there are always police around," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

Several other neighbors in that area conveyed similar stories Saturday.

Since his arrest, Hisle has been held in the LaRue County Detention Center in Hodgenville, Ky., pending sentencing, according to FBI officials.

He faces a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years, according to a release issued Friday by the U.S. Attorney for Western Kentucky in Louisville, where the case was handled. He is also required to pay restitution to 12 unidentified women who were victims of Hisle's sex-trafficking business.

"This defendant preyed on vulnerable young victims and cruelly exploited them for his profit," Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in the release.

The actual charges included one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, two counts of enticing a person to travel in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution and one count of interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution, according to the release.

Hisle's attorney said Saturday that Hisle had reached a plea agreement that includes restitution and that the 15-year sentence was the minimum he could receive.

Covington-based lawyer Bradley Fox said that the restitution would be decided in February when Hisle is officially sentenced. He declined further comment.

The names and ages of the women were not disclosed, and it was not revealed how many women were kept at the Avondale house at any one time.

According to Zarro's statement, the FBI was tipped off by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a potentially underage girl was offering sexual services on a well-known website called Backpage. An undercover officer made contact and then met with her at a Red Roof Inn in Louisville. She was then arrested, and Hisle and another woman were spotted leaving the scene.

The first woman was 19 and the second was 24, according to FBI agent Zarro's statement.

Hisle and the other woman, also there as a prostitute, were then arrested. Further investigations uncovered the operation out of the Avondale house.