WARNING: This story contains graphic details and is not suitable for all readers
Court documents have revealed disturbing new details in the case of a B.C. woman who pleaded guilty to more than a dozen human trafficking, sexual exploitation and assault charges earlier this year.
Police caught Jennifer Lynn Stephens, 30, after one of her victims called 911 from a gas station near a hotel in the Township of Langley in March 2023 following a brutal assault.
Global News has obtained the agreed statement of facts detailing the 17 offences Stephens pleaded guilty to, dating back to January 2022.
The documents reveal how Stephens originally ensnared the woman, a sex worker whose identity is protected by a publication ban, by creating a fake identity. The woman believed she was engaged in a romantic relationship via text message with Stephens’ brother, who was allegedly in jail and needed money.
In reality, the woman was texting with Stephens, who pressed her to engage in long hours of sex work. The victim e-transferred more than $60,000 over the period of one year to accounts controlled by Stephens, the documents show.
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According to the documents, Stephens eventually set the victim up in the Langley Highway Hotel on 88th Avenue, where the woman lived in one room and worked in another.
Stephens eventually secured the service of a second victim, a 13-year-old, who she was aware had previously been trafficked, and who she put to work in the same hotel.
She arranged for the two victims to be photographed together for advertisements online, managed their clients and kept close tabs on their time and earnings, the majority of which she took, the documents state.
Text messages in the documents show how she used social media like Snapchat to find clients for her victims.
“I have a SnapChat with like 500 clients on it so I just post a girls pick on there and tag their work snap and then they get legit 500 guys adding them which is straight BANK they can make thousands just off me tagging them on the work snap,” she wrote in one message.
“It took me sooo long to build that client list I’ve had pimps offer me thousandsssssss to sell it to them BUT NOPE ITS OURS 😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞❤❤❤❤❤”
It was at the Langley Highway Hotel where Stephens and an associate engaged in a multi-hour assault on the first victim that ultimately led to her arrest when the bloodied woman later called police from a nearby gas station, according to the documents.
The victim was punched in the face, whipped with a telephone cord and had hot wax poured on her. When police took her to the hospital, she was suffering from soft tissue injuries, bruising, swelling, blurred vision, and a headache.
The agreed statement of facts goes into graphic detail of several other assaults, including another attack on the first victim in December 2022 when she smashed a mirror over the woman’s head and cut her with the shards and whipped her with a metal curtain rod. Police later seized a loaded Glock handgun at that crime scene.
The documents reveal that Stephens used that same gun in a 2022 beating, sexual assault and extortion of another man.
Sentencing in Stephens’ case is scheduled for October.
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