OGDEN, Utah – After pleading guilty to two counts of human trafficking a piece, Lynnsie Reddish and Terrance Jones were sentenced Monday to a 1-15 year prison sentence.
Reddish and Jones were arrested in July of 2017, and charged with 16 felony offenses stemming from a, “long-term sex trafficking operation that ran out of their residence in Ogden City,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wrote.
In a preliminary hearing last year, seven women testified that Reddish and Jones exploited their vulnerabilities, including their drug addiction and lack of housing, to recruit them for commercial sex. “According to the women, Jones was the drug supplier and the ‘muscle’ for the operation. He handled payment transactions and nearly all the money made went to him and Reddish,” Reyes said.
Two women testified to the violence they experienced when they would attempt to leave. One told a story of how Reddish and Jones kept her in a room, and proceeded to cut off her hair and beat her with a belt. Another woman testified that when she attempted to leave the residence after refusing to engage in sexual acts with a “client,” she was chased down, and beaten in the street.
“One of the women Reddish recruited is autistic and meets the definition of a vulnerable adult,” Reyes wrote. “According to the victims, Reddish knew about her disability and forced her to work anyway, often beating her up or locking her into a closest when she refused.”
The Utah Attorney General asked the public to help fight human trafficking, and to report any tips to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.
