***WARNING: This story contains graphic content not suitable for all readers***
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A woman accused of trafficking a 16-year-old girl to pay bills while getting her addicted to drugs will serve about four-and-a-half years in prison.
An Allen Superior Court judge sentenced 48-year-old Brandy L. Treace to eight years in prison Friday, though the judge suspended two of those years and gave Treace 598 days credit for time served at Allen County Jail while her case wound through the legal system.
Treace previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of promoting child sex trafficking as part of a deal with Allen County prosecutors.
According to court documents, investigators found a string of text messages between Treace and the teenage girl. In some of those messages, Treace asked the girl to perform sexual acts for money or drugs in those text messages, court documents said.
During one of the text exchanges, Treace had been accused of asking her to have sex with someone for $40 worth of crack, according to court documents.
In an interview with Fort Wayne police, the girl said Treace introduced her to crack.
“Just try it, it’s not bad,” the girl said Treace told her, according to court documents.
The girl told police in court documents she’s now addicted.
In an interview with police, the victim said Treace would ask to go out to make money so they could buy crack and asked her to get money to pay the bills, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Treace told her she should do sexual acts for money to pay household bills.
A Family Case Manager spoke with Treace, according to court documents.
During the conversation, Treace said the victim had sex with a known drug dealer who lived two houses down from her in exchange for drugs. She also admitted to using crack with the victim on multiple occasions, court documents said.
The Family Case Manager said Treace also told her the victim told her she’d been raped at gunpoint in April 2020 but Treace did not report it to police “because the suspect was a stranger,” according to court documents.
Treace told the Family Case Manager that the activities she engaged in with the 16-year-old were not appropriate, court documents said.
As part of her plea agreement with prosecutors, charges of neglect of a dependent, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and invasion of privacy filed against Treace were dropped.
