Ashland Residents Charged With Holding Woman Captive
Story By:
Greg Heindel
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| Four Ashland residents face federal Human Trafficking charges, accusing them of holding a 29-year-old woman with a cognitive mental disability, and her five-year-old daugter, against their will for more than two years, in a house at 509 West Main Street in Ashland. The U-S Attorney's office in Cleveland has announced Forced Labor and Human Trafficking charges against 26-year-old Jordie Callahan, 31-year-old Jessica Hunt, and 33-year-old Daniel "D-J" Brown. The name of a fourth suspect has not been released. The woman was allowed to leave the house to go shopping, and last October, she shoplifted a candy bar knowing the police would be called. She told officers of being forced to do domestic chores such as the laundry and yard work, and being kept in a basement with pit bulls and python snakes. She said she was forced to beat her daughter while her captors videotaped it, and threatened to show the tape to police if she reported them. When she did, the tape was shown to police, and she was prosecuted for child endangering. As the investigation continued, her captors were arrested on state abduction charges, which has now been dropped with the filing of federal charges. Ashland County Prosecutor Ramona Rogers says she had filed state charges, when the F.B.I., while in Ashland on another case, suggested taking over the investigation and turning it over to the U.S. Attorney for federal prosecution. Rogers says she agreed because federal sentencing guidelines are much harsher than state penalties. Ashland Mayor Glen Stewart says he's saddened by these allegations being reported in his community, and calls this a tragedy. The four defendants face up to life in prison, if convicted. | ||||||
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