EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A woman was lured to East Lansing from Italy under the guise that she would be helping a man and his niece with housework. The woman was told that she would be an au pair, but instead was brutally sexually assaulted.

On Dec. 12 the FBI executed a search warrant at the home where the assault allegedly happened, which is on the 300 block of Highland Ave. in East Lansing.

6 News was there the day the FBI was at the home loading up boxes, but until now, officials would not confirm why the search was happening. During the search, the FBI seized 73 items, including ten firearms, 79 grams of suspected cocaine, sex toys and several electronic devices.

The Italian woman said she was handcuffed, molested with sex toys, raped and photographed inside the home.

Arisknight A. Winfree of East Lansing is accused of kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a child, and in a separate incident, officials said he may have had pornographic photos of an East Lansing High School student.

Mark Kzeski lived next door to Winfree and said he was stunned when he found out about the charges. He described Winfree as quiet and keeping to himself.

“I’d say, ‘Hello neighbor’ over the fence and [there was] no response. Nothing at all,” Kzeski said.

He and other neighbors were surprised when they saw FBI agents going door to door.

“They did not tell me anything about what was going on over there really. They were just asking me questions about the neighbor,” Kzeski said.

An FBI affidavit was filed on the matter on Monday, Jan. 23, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids.

The FBI says the two came into contact through a website called aupair.com which connects au pairs and families.

According to the victim’s complaint, she got to the home on Highland Avenue in East Lansing on Oct. 12. The victims said the home had newspapers blacking out the windows and cameras throughout the house.

She woke up on Oct. 13 and started doing some chores around the home. Later on, Winfree came into the victim’s room while she was showering and said the victim should come down to his room. She said she reluctantly did, and was eventually handcuffed.

The victim said she felt like she was dying.

After hours of assault, the victim said she was left in a room with her feet tied up and spent the night there.

Around 2 a.m. Winfree allegedly came into the room and freed her. She said he took her to the East Lansing bus stop so she could go to the Detroit airport. The victim arrived back in Italy on Oct. 15.

In a separate incident about a month later on Nov. 30, ELPD got a report of a 17-year-old high school student being picked up from school and taken back to the home of a man for sexual intercourse.

ELPD and the FBI interviews the victim’s mother and father because the victim did not show up when she was supposed to.

The two allegedly met online and agents said they saw the social media profile photo used and the Michigan Driver’s License photo for Winfree, and believed it was the same person.

Records show Winfree owns a 2021 Porche Boxster registered to the same address where the assault of the Italian victim happened, which is the same car the high school victim said she was picked up in.

On one of the seized electronic items taken from the home, still photographs of the East Lansing High School victim and Winfree having intercourse were found.

We are just breaking down the information in the affidavit and will have more for you throughout the night.