HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Wichita-area man bound over for trial on one count of human trafficking, aggravated battery, criminal threat-domestic battery, criminal restraint and misdemeanor battery entered “not guilty” pleas Monday.
The first charge accuses Steven Beranek 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.
The case will now be scheduled for a jury trial.