Two people accused of human trafficking of a teenager from Dubuque pleaded not guilty to charges, and are heading to trial.
Our coverage partner KCRG says Jarod Anderson and Tana Torres both entered those pleas last week in court. Torres faces charges including human trafficking, sexual abuse, and prostitution. Anderson faces charges including human trafficking, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor, pimping, and prostitution.
A trial date for both Torres and Anderson are set for November 12th in Linn County District Court.
The arrest happened in July after an ongoing investigation involving a juvenile girl reported missing out of Dubuque, but was found in Cedar Rapids.
The teen said she was taken to a Cedar Rapids hotel back in May by a man and a woman was given drugs, including meth, and sold for sex.
Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said this marks the first Human Trafficking charge involving a minor in Linn County under Iowa’s new law passed last year making the crime a class A felony. If found guilty, it’s punishable by a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.