Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested an 18-year-old woman who they said forced a teen girl to have sex with adult men after the two left a Southwest Ranches foster home. NBC 6’s Kim Wynne reports.
An 18-year-old woman is facing charges after authorities said she forced a 13-year-old girl to have sex with adult men after the two left a Southwest Ranches foster home.
Hannah Ellsworth faces multiple counts, including sex trafficking of a minor and lewd and lascivious battery of a victim under the age of 16, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
>
According to an arrest report, Ellsworth and the 13-year-old victim left the home in November 2021 and later began using social media and other apps to make arrangements to have sex with men for money throughout the county.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
>
Ellsworth allegedly threatened the victim that she would not get paid if she did not participate. The victim told deputies Ellsworth did not pay her after she was assaulted by two adult men, so she fled and was eventually found by the Plantation Police Department.
"The trauma that the victim has been through is some thing that I’m sure she’s still dealing with till this day," said Broward Sheriff's Office's Public Information Officer, Miranda Grossman.
Investigators found a cell phone belonging to Ellsworth that included videos on social media of her sexually assaulting the victim.
Local
"These type of investigations, human trafficking and sex investigations are very sensitive and complex in nature." said Grossman. "The investigative work takes a while due to the nature of the investigation, the well-being of the people involved."
The CEO of the group home where the teens ran away from said she personally knows the victim and that her heart "is literally broken."
“I am relieved that she has been found safe but broken that she had to endure something like this,” she said.
When asked how the teens were able to leave the property and run away, she said the group home is not "legally allowed to lock the kids into a house or restrain them in any way."
Ellsworth was taken into custody Monday and was expected to appear in bond court.
