The People vs. Erotic City

The alleged abuse grew worse. Investigators say Herd started taking Shorty regularly to Erotic City in Blue Summit in 2005. Herd and Shorty frequented the upstairs area, a strip club called the Attic Lounge. Until this January, when the Jackson County Legislature responded to the charges against Herd by barring locks and doors on video booths, Erotic City had served as a destination for those seeking anonymous sex.

Owners of Erotic City deny that the 14-year-old was molested in the club's video booths. Ron Boone, one of seven relatives who owns a share in the business, says Erotic City workers couldn't have known that Shorty didn't belong there. "The girl had a fake ID. There was no rape that happened there. There's security guards there always," he says. "I think you can go into a bar with a fake ID and buy a drink, and they don't shut you down." Boone claims that all activity in the club is consensual. "If somebody would have just raised their hand and said, 'Help me,' it would have been done," Boone says. "I'm not saying what they say happened there or didn't happen there. I have no knowledge of any part of it."

At Erotic City, Herd introduced Shorty as his 18-year-old girlfriend. The two looked like a couple, a former Erotic City DJ named Eric Jimmerson would later tell police. Jimmerson told investigators that he had met Herd 15 years before, when both were Erotic City patrons. Herd claimed to be a former Miami Dolphins football player and part owner of The Shady Lady. Herd also claimed to be the owner of a Kansas City trucking company. For once, he wasn't lying: He and Kindra Herd ran Midwest Freight Lines.

Herd and Shorty went to Erotic City an average of three times a month in the course of two years, Jimmerson estimated for investigators. Jimmerson, who didn't respond to interview requests from The Pitch, said he witnessed Shorty having sex with several men inside Erotic City's orgy room. That included Herd, who left the door open so others could watch or join in.

From the beginning, Herd asked patrons of the strip club if they wanted to take "his girlfriend" downstairs into Erotic City's orgy room. Herd had no trouble finding men to take his stepdaughter down the chipped staircase, court records claim. Again, it's not clear if the men paid Herd. Shorty sometimes had sex with up to 20 men at once.

The orgies weren't exclusive to Erotic City. Jimmerson hosted sex parties at his home in Basehor, Kansas, according to court documents. The tiny house on Parallel Road was only a 13-minute drive from Herd's home in Kansas City, Kansas. The parties were more of the same; Shorty would have sex with several men, ending with Herd.

Court records also show that Herd often took Shorty to hotels. He checked into the La Quinta at 2214 Taney at 6:24 p.m. on August 8, 2006; Herd's stay lasted a little more than two hours. On two occasions, Herd stayed at the American Inn at 1211 Armour in North Kansas City. Herd also checked Shorty into the American Motel at 7949 Splitlog in Kansas City, Kansas. The last record for Herd there is dated February 13, 2007.

A week later, Shorty told a neighbor. The neighbor called Kansas City, Kansas, police and reported that his daughter's friend was being "physically and sexually abused by her stepfather."

While Herd was allegedly prostituting Shorty at Erotic City throughout 2005, he was also coaching her fast-pitch softball team. Herd was an assistant coach with the Kansas City Storm, a 16-and-younger summer tournament team that played around the metro and traveled around the country.

Former Storm players tell The Pitch that they were surprised by Herd's arrest on charges of abusing their former teammate. Former players say he was well-liked and a good coach.

"We really, really liked him," says Sydney Vessels, who played for Herd's 2005 team. "He was really fun.... He really taught us a lot, and we ended up being pretty good, at least for our division."

Vessels says Herd would sometimes make sexual jokes to his players. She says she first thought they were innocent. "We always laughed it off," she says. "And now, thinking back, yeah, he was kind of a gross guy."

Players liked Herd, but other coaches weren't fond of him. Kansas City Storm head coach Ben Keech says other coaches warned him to stay away from Herd. "It was a risky move on my part just having him coach with me," Keech says. "Some circles of the softball community just never trusted him."

Keech says his relationship with Herd was cordial. He says Herd was a good coach and knew the game. "And to be honest with you, he was really pretty good with the girls," Keech says. "That's weird to say with what he's being charged with."