By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-22 16:11:56 | Updated at 2026-06-22 17:51:25
1 hour ago
At just 13, Tina Davis was told she was destined for greatness in the modeling world.
With a winning all-American Midwestern look, it wouldn't be long before she was whisked away from her small hometown in Jefferson County, Missouri, and her face splashed across billboards from Los Angeles to London.
It was 1993, at the height of the supermodel era. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford were global stars. Perhaps Davis would be next - or so went the pitch from an agent at Talent Plus, a St Louis-based agency that signed her virtually on the spot.
Within a year, Davis moved to Miami and signed with the legendary Ford Models Inc, whose alumni include stars such as Courteney Cox and Brooke Shields.
But it was in Florida, Davis claimed, that her pursuit of stardom took a horrifying turn.
In a lawsuit filed last month in Missouri, Davis claimed she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted at 14 and 15 years old by Ramon 'Ray' Lata, a 29-year-old photographer entrusted with helping build her modeling portfolio.
The alleged attacks began soon after Davis's mother left her in Miami, when the teenager was under the care and protection of Ford Models and Talent Plus, according to the suit.
The abuse is alleged to have continued even after Davis returned home to Missouri, where Lata is accused of collecting her alone from her family home and driving her to his hotel room, where he is alleged to have repeatedly abused her over several days.
Tina Davis was 13 when she secured her first modeling contract. Within a year, she claims she was sexually abused by a photographer hired to helped her career, according to a lawsuit
Davis was moved to Miami to sign with Ford Models within a year of being discovered in Missouri
Ramon 'Ray' Lata was 29 at the time of the alleged abuse. He denied Davis's claims in a statement to the Daily Mail, calling them '100% false'
Talent Plus and its owner, Sharon Tucci, along with Ford Models, are accused in the lawsuit of failing to protect Davis from a photographer they knew - or should have known - posed a danger to young models.
Lata has denied Davis' claims, calling them '100% false' in a brief statement to the Daily Mail, and characterized her filing as a 'money grab.'
'It didn't happen,' Lata wrote in a follow-up message. 'It's a serious life-changing allegation. I have 2 daughters that age - it's incomprehensible.'
Lata still works in the modeling industry as a consultant for a Texas-based firm, according to his LinkedIn page.
Tucci and Talent Plus, in a joint statement, also denied the allegations.
'The allegations against Sharon Tucci and the Talent Plus entities are patently false, and we look forward to proving the baselessness of these accusations in the Court of Law,' a statement read.
Formal responses to Davis's claims have yet to be filed with the court. Ford Models has not responded to requests for comment.
Davis's attorney, Kayla Onder, told the Daily Mail the case has exposed a culture of institutional neglect within the modeling industry - one in which, as alleged in the complaint, agencies routinely fail to protect child models from predators despite the foreseeable risks of abuse.
Onder, herself a former America's Next Top Model contestant, claimed the pattern is far from unique to Davis's case.
'Young models are especially vulnerable to abuse because, entering the modeling world as a child, you're often told things like, "This photographer can make your career, this agency can open doors," and you're encouraged not to be difficult or to speak up,' Onder said.
'The industry has an incentive to bury its head in the sand; they have an incentive to make money off of these girls and boys, so there's a reason to look the other way and to constantly push these children to make more money because it lines their pockets.'
Davis, now 44, claims her memories of the alleged abuse were suppressed for 30 years before an image she found of Lata caused them to resurface
Davis had a successful career in modeling, walking for Vivienne Westwood, Mugler, and Fendi. She now works as a creative director.
Davis began revisiting that period of her life again after she was contacted by reporters about a 1994 party she attended at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, during an investigation into the president's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, according to her attorney.
Davis claimed the memories of the alleged abuse remained suppressed until July 2025, she said, when she opened a box of photographs from her early modeling days and found an image of Lata.
Seeing Lata's face after so many years, Davis claimed, left her suffering flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and depression. She has since worked with counselors to piece together what allegedly happened.
The alleged abuse began shortly after Davis moved temporarily to Miami, where she was housed in living quarters arranged by Ford Models and Tucci, per the filing.
Within minutes of her mother leaving Miami, Davis was gathered with other child models in a room when Lata began 'psychologically grooming' her and the other children, the lawsuit stated.
Davis grew up poor in a small town in Jefferson County, Missouri. At 13, she was told she had the potential to be a star in the modeling industry
Davis accused Lata in the lawsuit of picking her up, lifting her skirt and pulling down her underwear, before violently spanking her in front of the other teenage models.
She screamed, kicked, cried and fought to break free from Lata's grasp, according to the suit.
It is claimed that Lata repeatedly exposed her genitals and laughed, encouraging the other children to mock her in what the filing claims was an attempt to induce 'humiliation trauma.'
'Sexual predators use humiliation trauma to strip victims of their dignity and lower their reputation and social status in the eyes of their peers, thus reinforcing the predators' position of authority and the victims' perceived inferiority,' the lawsuit read.
'Ray [Lata] used mockery to test the boundaries of [Davis] and the other child models to see how much abuse they would tolerate,' the suit further alleged.
Shortly after, Davis was instructed to appear for a test swimsuit photoshoot with Ray Lata at a hotel in Miami, the lawsuit claimed. Afterwards, she was allegedly invited to his room to review the images.
The agencies did not provide supervisors or chaperones to accompany Davis on the trip, according to the filing.
Lata is still employed in the modeling industry as a consultant for a Texas-based firm, according to his LinkedIn
Lata told the Daily Mail in an emailed statement that the abuse alleged by Davis 'didn't happen'
Once inside, Davis claimed Lata locked the door behind them. He then sodomized and raped her, the lawsuit alleged.
Months later, when Davis had returned home, Tucci and Ford allegedly booked a local photoshoot for her, and Lata allegedly traveled to Missouri - alone - to transport her to the shoot.
Davis alleged in the complaint that across multiple days, Lata took her from the safety of her family's home to his hotel room where he repeatedly sodomized and raped her.
After the alleged attacks, Lata threatened the teenager not to tell her family, the lawsuit claimed.
Rediscovering the repressed memories of Lata's alleged abuse has been incredibly traumatic for Davis, her attorney Onder said.
However, Davis is sharing her story, without using a pseudonym, in the hopes of bringing sweeping change to the modeling industry, which she believes still lacks the necessary safeguards to protect young models from abuse.
'The pressure in this business is immense, and when you have completely unsupervised children, whose parents are being sold a dream as well, and they're flown to these big cities and promised lavish careers… It's ripe for exploitation,' Onder said.
That pressure is compounded, the lawsuit claims, by a financial system that can leave aspiring child stars indebted to the agencies controlling their careers.
Davis came from a poor family without the means to cover expenses required to compete in the industry, forcing her to rely on the agencies to advance the money on her behalf, according to the complaint and Onder.
Davis went on to have a successful career in modeling, walking for Vivienne Westwood, Mugler, and Fendi
Davis's attorney and former America's Next Top Model contestant, Kayla Onder, told the Daily Mail the case exposes an alleged culture of institutional neglect within the modelling industry
Those expenses were then deducted from her earnings, along with commissions and alleged markups on housing, classes and other services, according to the suit.
The result, Davis claims, was a cycle in which she began her career owing money to the same agencies that controlled her bookings, rates and access to influential photographers and clients.
The lawsuit alleged this industry-wide system of 'debt peonage' leaves child models unable to refuse uncomfortable demands.
One such demand, which she described to the New York Times, came when a Ford booker instructed her to dress up and attend a party at Mar-A-Lago in 1994.
Just 14, she was told to 'dress sexy' and arrived with eight or nine other young models, according to her mother, Sandra Coleman.
Coleman said she confiscated a glass of champagne handed to her daughter upon arrival and spent the night warding off middle-aged men from speaking with Davis.
It is unclear whether Epstein attended, though the Times reported he was then a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago parties.
Onder credited Davis for her courage for coming forward and filing her allegations.
'I'm very proud of her. I'm sure there were a lot of dark moments dealing with those repressed memories,' she said, 'but the Tina Davis I know and represent at this moment is very strong and well-spoken, and her goal is to change the industry and make it safer for young models.'
