A Calgary woman accused in a 2017 human trafficking investigation has been acquitted on all but one charge in relation to an incident where another woman was reportedly held captive and forced to have sex with strangers.
Jessica Vinje was arrested, along with three teenagers, in January 2018 after a woman ran into a business in December 2017 and said she had just escaped from an apartment she had been forcibly confined in.
Police said at the time it was believed the woman had been in the apartment for five days before running away. In that time, it was believed she had beaten and forced to have sex with more than 10 different men for money which was allegedly given to the suspects.
When she was arrested, Vinje was charged with human trafficking, material benefit from human trafficking, sexual assault, unlawful confinement, voyeurism and assault.
On Monday, Vinje was acquitted of all charges except assault.
During Vinje’s trial earlier this year, the victim — known only as KM — testified she was given little to eat or drink when she was held in a windowless bedroom in a downtown apartment that Vinje was leasing.
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Court heard that KM overheard a conversation suggesting she would be sold as a sex slave and that she was wearing just a tank top when she escaped. She ran to a nearby liquor store in her bare feet pleading for help.
According to Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner, the justice acquitted Vinje after finding “credibility problems with the complainant.”
Vinje remains in custody, Spaner said, serving a multi-year sentence at the Edmonton Women’s Prison related to other matters.
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