HUTCHINSON, Kan. – A 2013 human trafficking case scheduled to go to trial Monday ended before it started when the state decided it need to refile the case on technical grounds.
Steven Beranek of Wichita was in court with his Wichita attorney, Charlie O’Hara, for the trial to begin. Prospective jurors were also present, but were then told by the court that they were dismissed.
The state had earlier added five human trafficking charges to the mix against Beranek, who was already charged with abuse of a child, that being a 14 month old, aggravated endangerment of a child, criminal restraint and domestic battery. The case goes back to August of 2013. However the abuse of child and aggravated endangerment charges are alleged to have occurred in September of 2012 and the human trafficking charges allege alternate theories with a time frame between May of 2011 and June of 2013.
The adult female victim in the case, Mayra Sarai, was allegedly held against her will on a farmstead in the county. She at some point was able to get free and showed up at a restaurant in the county. Police and sheriff officials then began the investigation which was made more difficult because of her inability to speak English.
Beranek is alleged to have inflicted cruel and inhuman corporal punishment on the 14-month-old child and also placed the child in a situation where the child’s life, body or health could be in danger.
With the state dropping the charges, then refiling the case, that means that everything starts all over again, including a new preliminary hearing.