Staff report

A Beaumont man charged last May with a murder in Nederland has been indicted with continuous trafficking of persons, a first-degree felony, in connection with prostitution cases involving six women, two under the age of 18.

The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office said in an issued statement Thursday that Duane Lamonte Owens Jr., 25, of 2610 Euclid St., Beaumont, was indicted Wednesday by a Jefferson County grand jury.

Owens remained in the Jefferson County jail Thursday, where he has remained since May 24, 2018, with bond set on the following charges:

• Assault family felony, $125,000
• Murder, $250,000
• Criminal conspiracy, $100,000
• Burglary of a habitation, $100,000
• Aggravated robbery, $100,000.

The District Attorney’s Office said these most recently revealed charges stem from the murder investigation launched May 9 when Michael Legg, 40, was found murdered in his home in Beauxart Gardens, a usually tranquil community. Investigators believe he’d been beaten by as many as three people: Owens; Dcobien Dorsey, 19; and Ashlie Cherie Martinez, 24.

“There’s honestly not much I can say,” said a spokesman for District Attorney Bob Wortham. The cases are pending, she said, and the trafficking charges were related to the homicide. The information on the trafficking cases was gathered in the course of the homicide investigation.

The indictment released Thursday afternoon listed the names of the victims and identified them by name. Of the six, Ashlie Martinez, 24, is also a defendant in the murder case. She remained in the county jail Thursday, with bond totaling $551,000 from the cases filed in May.