HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After the state refiled a case against a Wichita-area man after earlier dropping the charges on technical grounds, he was back before a judge Monday for a new preliminary hearing where he was bound over as charged.
Steven Beranek is charged with one count of human trafficking, aggravated battery, criminal threat-domestic battery, criminal restraint and misdemeanor battery.
The first charge accuses him with human trafficking between May 2011 and June 2013. The other charges occurred in January and June of 2013.
The adult female victim in the case was allegedly held against her will on a farmstead near Pretty Prairie. At some point, she 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.
During the hearing she told of her ordeal, however, the defense got her to admit that some of the things she was asked or told to do were part of her wifely duties or chores. But, when asked why she didn’t leave sooner, she told the court she was told she wouldn’t be able to take her child the two had together. Beranek is also alleged to have battered a 14-month-old child in this case as well.
With him being bound over for trial, the case will again move to arraignment.