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Sanford Offered to Torture Sex Trafficking Victim, Sentenced to 10 Years

Sanford Offered to Torture Sex Trafficking Victim, Sentenced to 10 Years
Gavel with books in background. | Image by DNY59

A man who offered to torture a sex trafficking victim for money was sentenced to federal prison on March 17. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, 39-year-old Billie Joe Sanford was sentenced to ten years in prison.

As the U.S. Department of Justice announced, a criminal complaint of attempted kidnapping was filed against Sanford of Eustace, Texas, in November 2020. He was indicted in December 2020.

Sanford pleaded guilty in November 2021.

According to court documents, Sanford admitted to responding to an online advertisement to “break” a sex trafficking victim. The advertisement had been put up by an undercover agent, but Sanford did not know that at the time.

“I am willing to help break her into a proper slave,” Sanford said in his response. He later requested $5,000 weekly as payment for brutalizing the victim.

Sanford later met with the undercover agent who posed as the head of a human trafficking ring in Plano. The agent told him that he wanted to pimp out the victim. However, she refused to engage in commercial sex and attempted to escape multiple times.

Sanford then told the agent that he had previously “broken” trafficking victims. He said he would use methods such as caging, shock therapy, whipping, flogging, and blaring heavy metal music. He also said that he would use techniques that would be effective yet not leave scars that would affect the victim’s sale in the future.

Sanford met with the agent again in Irving. Together, they went into a vehicle belonging to the agent. In the vehicle’s back seat was another agent posing as the victim.

When they arrived at a location, Sanford unloaded a suitcase and bag containing equipment such as flogs, spurs, and leather restraints.

During their investigation, Sanford later told law enforcement that he needed money and only wanted to help the victim “enjoy life.”

The investigation is a joint effort by the Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Division, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Dallas County District Attorney’s Office Investigator, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Colleyville Police Department, and the Fort Worth Police Department.

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