Couple pleads guilty to holding victim as sex slave in RV
PROVIDENCE FORGE, Va. -- An Iowa couple pleaded guilty Friday to sex trafficking charges as graphic new details emerged in a Virginia sex slave case.
Authorities say Aldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, of Clive, Iowa, used torture and sexual abuse and forced a female victim to engage in prostitution after taking her captive in an RV last year, reports CBS affiliate WTVR.
They say the pair lured the victim into the RV Dec. 19 and then took her phone, forced her to consume alcohol and marijuana, sexually assaulted her and held her against her will, forcing her to travel with them from Iowa to Virginia to visit Hozda's minor daughter.
The defendants allegedly posted advertisements on Craigslist soliciting the victim for sex, attempting to prostitute her along the trip at various truck stops, the station reports.
During the victim's captivity, authorities say the defendants tortured her, burning her with a key and scissors that had been heated on a stove, putting cigarettes out on the victim's body, whipping the victim with a rope, driving nails into the victim's feet, and spraying bleach into the victim's wound.
The victim was rescued and the pair arrested Jan. 5, 2015 after a concerned truck driver noticed suspicious behavior in the RV, parked at a gas station in Providence Forge, about 30 miles east of Richmond, and called police.
Trucker Kevin Kimmel told WTVR he noticed a distraught-looking girl in the RV who quickly disappeared behind a curtain.
"When I saw the young girl's face, I said that's not going to happen, I've got daughters and granddaughters," Kimmel told the station. ""I'm just happy I helped her."
The couple avoided a June trial by submitting the guilty plea, which was accepted by a U.S. District judge, reports the station. They face a mandatory-minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison when they're sentenced Aug. 14.
The terms of the plea agreement recommend a 35-year sentence, reports the station.