Seven people have been charged in connection with an alleged sex trafficking operation that Alabama officials say was run out of a concrete bunker and involved children as young as 3.
The case includes charges of rape, sexual torture, kidnapping, and human trafficking, and officials allege the abuse took place in a cinder block building in Brent, Alabama, 50 miles southwest of Birmingham, Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said at a news conference Wednesday.
He called the alleged abuse and torture “the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen” perpetrated against children.
“I know god’s forgiveness is boundless,” Wade said. “But if there was a limit to it, I think we’ve reached it.”
He said the operators of the sex abuse ring charged people to come to the bunker and abuse the children, adding that the operation may have made $1,000 a night.
“Sometimes, the children would be there, tied to a pole that was there, bound to a bed that was there, or in a chair that was there,” Wade said. “Sometimes, there would be multiple people that would come by and victimize these children on a nightly basis.”
An image of the inside of the bunker, released by the sheriff’s office, showed a filthy mattress in a corner, a folding chair and a fan.
The sheriff also alleged the children were sometimes drugged “to make them a little bit more drowsy and a little bit more compliant.”
An animal shock collar was used to punish the children, according to complaints obtained by NBC News affiliate WVTM of Birmingham.
Wade said the suspects include relatives of some of the 10 alleged victims, who range in age from 3 to 15.
The children are in the custody of the state, said Robert H. Turner, Jr., the district attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit of Alabama.
The sheriff said the operation appears to have come together about 2022, and that officials began investigating in February after state child welfare officials alerted Bibb County authorities to the possibility of abuse at a home near the bunker. The children did not live in the bunker, the sheriff said.
Wade said a drug trafficking investigation at the location may have delayed the sex trafficking case.
“We had a little bit of a hold on until we could rescue these children,” the sheriff said.
At least two of the arrests were made in April, the sheriff’s office said. A number of defendants have confessed to crimes outlined in the charges, Wade said.
The seven face a mix of charges including rape, sexual abuse and sexual torture of a child, human trafficking, sodomy, kidnapping, bestiality and animal abuse, according to the criminal complaints.
It’s not clear if all the defendants have obtained legal counsel.
“We are diligently investigating all leads and gathering evidence to build the strongest possible case,” Turner said.
Turner said additional arrests and charges are likely.
“We anticipate that new names that have surfaced during the course of the investigation will also be presented for consideration,” he said by email on Friday.
Wade also said there could be more victims.
Homeland Security Investigations is working to determine if there are possible links to a national, gang-run sex trafficking ring, Wade said. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
If you are a child being abused, or know a child who may be facing abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at (800) 422-4453, or go to www.childhelphotline.org. States often have child abuse hotlines, but if you suspect a child’s life is in imminent danger, call 911.
