Law enforcement officials recently confirmed that at least 10 children were sexually abused and tortured while being held captive for roughly three years in a storm bunker in Alabama as part of a sex-trafficking ring.
In a post on Facebook, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that it launched an investigation in February “following concerns regarding the sexual abuse of children in an underground bunker located in Brent, Alabama.”
According to The New York Post, the police investigation found that at least 10 children were sexually abused and that some of the children were sexually tortured with animal shock collars. The youngest victim was reportedly only two years old, while the oldest victim was 15 years old. The outlet noted that some of the children’s parents were arrested as part of the sex-trafficking ring.
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that seven suspects were arrested during the investigation, including two mothers and three family members of the victims.
According to The New York Post, 21-year-old Dalton Terrell, 21-year-old William Chase McElroy, 23-year-old Timothy St. John, 29-year-old Rebecca Brewer, 29-year-old Andres Velazquez-Trejo, 41-year-old Ricky Terrell, and 41-year-old Sara Louise Terrell currently face charges stemming from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation, including human trafficking, sexual torture, sodomy, and rape.
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During a Wednesday press conference, Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade told reporters, “I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there is a limit, we’ve reached it.”
According to The New York Post, police officials accused Velazquez Trejo of drugging the children before having clients pay up to $1,000 to have sex with the child victims. Bibb County Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jones told reporters that the victims were tied up during sexual acts. Court documents claim that Sara Louise Terrell also put animal shock collars on the children that were used on the victims’ genitals either for punishment or sexual gratification.
Some of the suspects arrested in the investigation have been accused of selling and purchasing the victims. Wade acknowledged that “there’s no telling” how many additional victims could have been involved in the sex-trafficking ring, according to The New York Post.
The New York Post confirmed that all of the known victims of the sex-trafficking ring are currently in the custody of the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
“No child deserves this, the power and control of it, the stealing the innocence of a child and the horrible victimization they went through with these monsters,” Wade told reporters. “Some of the older children will carry this vividly for the rest of their lives. You can’t heal from this, but you can move on as best you can.”
