A grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned a superseding indictment charging Treva Edwards, 61, of Orange, New Jersey, with two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, three counts of forced labour, and conspiracy to commit forced labour.
The superseding indictment also charged his wife, Christine Edwards, 64, also of Orange, with conspiracy to commit forced labour.
According to the superseding indictment, the couple founded and pastored a church named Jesus is Lord by the Holy Ghost, which they operated out of a multi-unit apartment building in Orange. There, they conspired with each other and others to obtain the compelled labour of church members.
As charged in the superseding indictment, between 2010 and 2025, the defendants identified and recruited victims facing personal struggles, including financial and familial, to join the church and live and worship at the church building.
Mr Edwards told the victims that he was a prophet who could communicate directly with God and that disobeying him would result in spiritual retribution, as well as physical, emotional, and financial harm.
The Edwardses secured labour contracts to provide manual labour in and around Orange, including cleaning and gutting commercial and residential properties, shovelling snow, removing bulk trash, moving furniture, cleaning raw sewage, and exterminating rodent infestations.
The Edwards couple dispatched the victims to perform the contracted labour. They did not pay wages to the victims for their work and kept the money earned from their labour.
Mr Edwards preached to the victims that he communicated God’s will, that it was God’s will for them to work, and that members had to perform labour to serve God. The defendants convinced the victims that they would lose favour with God and “the Prophet” if they did not perform the prescribed labour.
Mr Edwards spread fear among the victims through verbal and emotional abuse and threats of reputational harm, homelessness, hunger, spiritual retribution, punishments, and additional hard labor to gain their obedience and compel them to perform unpaid labour.
The Edwardses instituted and enforced strict rules about when and whether the victims could eat or sleep, when and for how long they were to pray and work, and whether they could speak to non-members or leave the church building.
They isolated the victims, monitored their communications and whereabouts, and convinced them that non-members were evil or possessed by the devil. They also deprived the victims of sleep and typically fed them only once a day after they completed their work.
According to the allegations in the superseding indictment, Mr Edwards controlled and subjected two victims to repeated physical and sexual assaults, impregnating one victim and instructing her to get an abortion, and telling the other victim that having sex with him was God’s will and would prevent her from becoming mentally ill.
The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion against Mr Edwards carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. The forced labour charge against Mr Edwards carries a maximum penalty of 20 years or life in prison if the violation included aggravated sexual abuse. The conspiracy to commit forced labour charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.