B.C. woman Jennifer Stephens sentenced to 13 years after guilty pleas in child sex trafficking case

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A woman who pleaded guilty to multiple charges in a child sex trafficking case in British Columbia has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, the B.C. Prosecution Service said.

The prosecution service said Jennifer Stephens was also ordered to provide a DNA sample and to report to the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, and she received a 10-year firearms ban.

According to the prosecution service, Stephens’s offences included unlawful confinement, assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault with a weapon, advertising sexual services and materially benefiting from sexual services provided by a person under 18 years old.

The B.C. Prosecution Service said Stephens was granted credit for time spent in custody before her sentencing on Thursday, leaving about 8 1/2 years to serve.

At a sentencing hearing earlier this year, impact statements from Stephens’s victims described both physical and psychological trauma, the prosecution service said.

The Crown sought a 13-year sentence, while Stephens’s lawyer suggested a seven-year sentence with credit for time already served, the prosecution service said.

Police in Langley, B.C., began investigating the case in February 2023. The investigation started with a phone number linked to a 13-year-old girl who had been trafficked in Alberta and Kelowna, B.C.

An agreed statement of facts read out earlier in the sentencing hearing said services from the girl had been advertised on LeoList, an online escort platform. The statement also said photographs on the website helped police locate victims at a Langley hotel.

The sentencing hearing took place in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. The prosecution service said videos played during the hearing prompted a warning from Justice Terence Schultes, who told people in the courtroom to reconsider watching the content if they were not “battle-hardened by criminal proceedings.”