3 sentenced for sex trafficking minor in SLO County’s first multi-jury trial
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- Three defendants convicted for sex trafficking a 15-year-old in SLO County.
- Murphy received 14 years and four months; Jones 16 years; Hunt 8 years.
- All must register as lifetime sex offenders and pay restitution to the victim.
Three defendants were sentenced Wednesday for sex trafficking a minor from San Luis Obispo County. All will serve prison time and register as lifetime sex offenders.
Joshua Murphy, 27, Tremaine Jones, 32, and Heather Hunt, 32, were arrested and accused of sex-trafficking a 15-year-old girl in January 2021. The girl, identified as Jazmin Doe in court, was reported as missing and at-risk from her Nevada home.
The two-month trial was San Luis Obispo County’s first multiple-jury trial, where more than one jury heard evidence at the same time in the same courtroom.
The only other multiple-jury trial in San Luis Obispo County history was the case against Paul and Ruben Flores in relation to the murder of Kristin Smart, but the trial was run in Monterey County Superior Court.
San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Dittrich said in her opening arguments that the three defendants “conspired to lure, control and profit from a child that they targeted because of her looks and age.”
Murphy’s attorney, however, argued it was Jazmin who was organizing the sex work business. Both Hunt and Jones’ attorneys argued their clients did not have anything to do with Murphy and Jazmin’s business. All three said they thought Jazmin was 21.
In July, Murphy, Jones and Hunt were all convicted of human trafficking a minor for the purpose of sex acts and pimping a minor under the age of 16 following a multi-jury trial.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, Murphy was given the maximum possible sentence, having been identified as the face of the operation.
Murphy was also found guilty of possession and distribution of child pornography and committing sex acts on a 15-year-old.
The jury did not find that Murphy used force or fear, which allowed him to avoid a potential life prison sentence, but Hunt’s jury did find that she trafficked Jazmin under force or fear.
Paul Phillips, Hunt’s attorney, argued on Wednesday that Jazmin had been trafficked for five years before meeting the defendants, and Hunt was only involved with her for 16 days.
But Judge Timothy Covello said this only makes the defendants more culpable.
“She had been trafficked for many years beforehand, and she was, in fact, as tragic as it is, she had been a prostitute for a long time,” Covello said. “It’s important that people understand that that didn’t make her less vulnerable, that made her more vulnerable.”
Murphy’s attorney, Addison Steele, said in an email to The Tribune that the sentencing was a “tremendous victory for all three defendants” because none received life sentences.
3 sentenced to prison for sex trafficking minor
Murphy received the maximum sentence of 14 years and four months.
Covello’s sentence centered around the court’s finding that Murphy lied during his testimony about knowing the victim’s age when he trafficked and performed sex acts on her.
“Mr. Murphy took advantage of a 15-year-old girl,” Covello said. “He did so knowingly. He knew that she was 15, and we know that despite his denials, which the court finds incredible.”
Jazmin told Murphy early on that she was 15, Covello said, and Murpy was found in possession of her ID that states she was a high school freshman.
Knowing her age, Murphy took her ID and phone, and “made sure she could not escape the circumstances she was in,” Covello said. “He took her body.”
Text messages considered during trial in which Murphy told Jazmin to continue walking the streets at night when she was in pain from menstruating and asked to stop “bespeak a sort of cruelty that’s hard for this court to fathom,” Covello said.
Texts also show Murphy sought drugs to ply Jazmin and discussed engaging in violence to force her or other victims into prostitution.
In addition to prison time, Murphy is required to register as a lifetime sex offender and will pay restitution to Jazmin, with the amount to be determined on Jan. 14. The $10,000 felony restitution fine to the court was stayed so that any restitution fees could go to the victim.
Jones and Hunt received the same restitution and sex offender registration sentences with different prison time requirements.
Jones’ sentencing was “more complex and more difficult” than Murphy’s, Covello said.
Even though the court found Jones the “least culpable of any of them,” because he may not have known Jazmin’s age or participated in coercion, he received the longest sentence of 16 years because this was not his first offense.
His sentence was still half of the maximum length of 29 years, which was aggravated due to past sexual offense involving a minor.
Jones was previously convicted of sexual assault in Cass County, North Dakota. San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Dittrich said he raped a 13-year-old.
Covello found that Jones’ past conduct “didn’t really color what he did,” in this case.
Hunt was last to be sentenced.
“This is one of the singular most difficult sentencing decisions this court has ever had to make,” Covello said.
After the jury found she used fear or force against Jazmin, Hunt was up for a lifetime sentence with potential to get out at 15 years on parole.
She instead was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Phillips, her lawyer, held his head in his hands and appeared to be crying while her sentence was delivered. He wiped tears away with a handkerchief.
Despite Dittrich’s argument that Hunt “did not express remorse” and “manipulated the victim,” the court did not believe that Hunt had a complete understanding of the defendent’s vulnerability, Covello said.
Further, Hunt was not Jazmin’s pimp, because she was also being prostituted alongside Jazmin.
Covello saw Hunt’s participation as a cycle of abuse, as she herself had been trafficked and was born into cocaine addiction, he said.
“These cases almost always involved other victims,” Covello said. “This court believes that a life sentence is not appropriate in this case. It’s not just.”
Jazmin Doe did not appear in court or give a victim impact statement.
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 4:15 PM.
