Texas man offered to ‘break’ sex trafficking victim with torture for $5,000, feds say
Billie Joe Sanford offered to “break” a sex trafficking victim to make her a “proper slave” for $5,000 per week, according to a federal complaint.
The 37-year-old Eustace man said he would do it through torture such as blaring heavy metal music, caging, flogging, and using shock therapy, whips and black-out contacts, the complaint says.
But it turned out the “human trafficker” that Sanford was dealing with was a federal undercover agent. And the intended victim Sanford met in a Dallas warehouse also was an undercover agent.
Sanford was arrested Nov. 5 in Dallas and charged the next day with attempting to aid and abet sex trafficking.
On Friday, a federal magistrate judge ordered Sanford released on conditions pending his trial, but officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District Texas are appealing that decision. Sanford will remain in custody pending the filing of the appeal.
“I shudder to think what could have happened had the ‘victim’ in this case been a vulnerable woman, rather than an undercover agent,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox in a news release.
If convicted, Sanford faces a maximum of life in prison.
The federal complaint written by Special Agent Jason E. Stewart with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, provided this brief account of the case:
On Oct. 9, an undercover agent posted an entry to a website that said: “Needs Breaking. Three months and she won’t break. Don’t want to lose my investment but at this point I’m done. Dominance is not my thing. $$Best offer$$. If you break her I will buy her back. Contact for details. Dallas, Texas.”
Sanford contacted the agent who posed as the leader of a major human trafficking organization about the ad. Sanford went by the username “MasterBill75751.”
The undercover agent said he planned to make a lot of money “pimping” out the victim, but he was concerned by her refusal to engage in commercial sex and her repeated attempts to escape. He had to handcuff her and lock her in a bathroom, he told Sanford.
The Eustace man boasted that he had “broken” trafficking victims for years, later telling federal agents he had been introduced to the “kink” lifestyle while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. Eustace is about 90 miles southeast of Fort Worth.
Sanford reassured the undercover agent that the flogging would cut the victim, but it would not leave permanent scars that could affect her sale. He also had paddles lined with thumbtacks or needles, he told the agent.
Sanford noted that his training as a certified nursing assistant gave him expertise in where sensitive parts were located on the human body and where the victim would not want to feel “excruciating pain,” according to the complaint.
For days last month, Sanford kept in contact with the undercover agent, asking for pictures of the victim and wanting a private place to train her.
On Oct. 29, the undercover agent and Sanford met in The Colony, where they discussed more details of the tortures.
Sanford told the agent he would keep the victim in a cage, with her hands and feet restrained. He would place “black-out contacts” within the victim’s eyes to confuse her.
After the meeting, Sanford continued to communicate with the agent, talking about his previous experiences with “breaking” other sex trafficking victims in other states.
“I’ve had some girls it took four weeks to break down to where they understood not to go ... Because they still thought they had a choice,” Sanford told the agent.
On the night of Nov. 5, Sanford and the agent met in Irving, where they discussed that the victim was at a nearby warehouse in Dallas.
When they arrived at the warehouse, Sanford unloaded several items, including a white bag and black suitcase and carried them inside.
The intended victim, who was also an undercover agent, was retrained in the backseat of a vehicle.
The agent offered Sanford $2,500 as a down payment for his services, but Sanford appeared suspicious and started to walk toward the door of the warehouse.
At that point, Sanford was taken into custody without incident by federal agents.
Shortly after his arrest and as federal agents began to interview him, Sanford received a text message on his cell phone which said, “Does Master have a task for slave?”
Sanford told agents that the message was from one of his multiple girlfriends and she wasn’t in danger.
Asked about the victim he’d offered to break, Sanford stated he needed the money and simply wanted to “help her enjoy life.”
But in one text message exchange with the undercover agent, Sanford wrote: “I guarantee my work. I have never failed to break a woman to know what her purpose is.”
