Man, woman indicted in sex-trafficking case

A federal grand jury has indicted two South Salt Lake residents on sex-trafficking charges, accusing them of hiring underage girls to perform motel-room sex acts.

The indictment, unsealed last week, accuses DeWayne Eugene Hopkins, 27, and Julia Jane Young, 19, of recruiting three girls under 18 to work as escorts giving "erotic massages" and performing sexual acts for cash.

"Defendants took photographs of the minor females and published them on Internet sites such as craigslist.com, backpage.com and cityvibe.com to advertise the 'massages,' " the indictment states.

Hopkins is accused of renting out rooms at a Midvale motel for the teenage girls' work and coaching the girls on how much to charge for certain sex acts. Young is accused of taking calls from potential customers and booking the appointments. Hopkins, the indictment alleges, drove the girls to the motel to work and "ordered H.S. and M.H. to give him half of the money that they earned performing commercial sex acts."

The indictment accuses both Hopkins and Young of encouraging the girls to recruit others to join the business. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah would not say how old the alleged victims were, but the scheme apparently came to federal authorities' attention through an investigation by Sandy police.

Hopkins and Young were arrested and appeared earlier this month in U.S. District Court, where they both entered not-guilty pleas. Young was released from U.S. marshal's custody under conditions. Hopkins remains in jail. A trial has been scheduled for May 26.

— Ben Winslow