12/6/2015 – OKC, OK — The first of five defendants to go to trial in the Tonya Gum federal child sex trafficking case has been acquitted of paying to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
JohnTV first reported on this case back in July after a federal indictment was unsealed in Oklahoma and accused one woman and four men of the despicable crimes.
On July 15, Sanford Coats, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma announced that Tonya Gay Gum, (aka, ‘Carmen’, aka ‘Lisa’), 42, was the head of a criminal organization that sold girls as young as 14 and 15-years old to ‘Johns’ seeking sex locally.
The accused ‘Johns’ were later identified by JohnTV as Trung N. Duong, William M. Baker, Russell D. Ehrens and Curtis A. Anthony.
Ehrens, 55, was tried separately from the other defendants because, unlike the others, he was not also charged with conspiracy – Ehrens contacted the juvenile’s pimp directly and did not go through Gum’s escort business.
Ehrens two day federal trial ended last week with the jury returning a ‘not guilty’ verdict.
Ehrens’ defense attorney, Ed Blau, told the Oklahoman, Ehrens’ defense was that the “the sex never happened.”
JohnTV has to call bullshit on that claim. What is known is that the prosecution provided clear evidence that the child’s pimp was contacted by Ehrens and that the child was taken to Ehrens Oklahoma City residence and could describe unique features of the interior. Additionally, Ehrens never took the stand and admitted to (nor denied) having sex with the child. Blau took the stance that the state never proved Ehrens did indeed have sex with the child.
What most likely weighed most favorably for the defense was a legal loophole that, at the time of the alleged crime, required Ehrens to have used (paraphrasing) reckless disregard as to the child’s age. Meaning – since the child was portrayed as of legal age in her description and attire (both on Backpage.com and in person) and the fact Ehrens was only with her briefly, then he had no legal obligation to know she was in fact a juvenile at the time he allegedly paid her for sexual intercourse.
JohnTV contends that federal prosecutors knew of this legal loophole early-on but were extremely arrogant in ignoring it as a factor. Had prosecutors simply charged Ehrens with human trafficking as it applies to an adult, then age would not have been a factor in the jury’s deliberation. Additionally, federal prosecutors could have recommended this case be pursued in state court and charged Ehrens with statutory rape – where reckless disregard of one’s age is not a element of the crime that has to be proven.
Fortunately, in Nov. of this year, the federal crime of child sex trafficking no longer requires the pimp or ‘John’ to use any sort of reckless disregard as to their victim’s age – its now more of a (paraphrasing) “you knew” or “should have known” stance.
Gum reportedly has reached a plea agreement and has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking. Gum has yet to be formerly sentenced, but is facing several years in prison. In July JohnTV’s own Video Vigilante Brian Bates distributed fliers in Gum’s upscale neighborhood.
The three remaining male defendants are all set to go to trial together in early January of 2016.
It is assumed all three defendants will use the same defense as Ehrens.
Readers will recall, that even though prosecutors have yet to secure a conviction at trial, they are doing everything they can to protect the identities of the pimps in this case. After JohnTV published the names of the 14 and 15-year old victim’s pimps (who were selling the girls to Gum, who in turn sold them to ‘Johns’) the federal government sought and was granted a ‘protective order’ sealing the child trafficker’s identities.
JohnTV will continue to follow this case.
Russell D. Ehrens has been described during this case as an ‘investment banker’ from New York who was in Oklahoma City at the time of his alleged crime and had a temporary residence here.
A LinkedIn profile for Ehrens identifies him as the vice president of Recruitment for Predictive Dollars and president of The American Federation of Sales Training and Recruitment (Jan. 2005 to present).
More digging by JohnTV turned up evidence that Ehrens most likely has connections to the infamous ‘Wolf of Wall Street,’ Jordan Belfort.
a FINRA (Financial Indistry Regulatory Authority) online ‘Broker check’ listing shows a Russell D. Ehrens as a disciplined, now unlicensed broker who was once employed by Stratton Oakmont, Inc. (1992-1994) out of NY.
Stratton Oakmont was a Long Island “over-the-counter” brokerage house founded by Belfort in 1989 – and reportedly the largest of its kind at that time.
Early on Stratton Oakmont was identified by investigators as a ‘pump and dump’ firm and eventually forced to shut down in 1996.
Belfort makes reference to a man named Russell Ehrens, who was a board member of Stratton Oakmont, in his biography…
I paused and looked around the boardroom until I found Russell Ehrens…
Russell was loud and brash, favoring the use of hype and bullshit to close a sale, rather than logic and reason. I pointed to Russell, who looked like a football player gone to fat…
He had frizzy brown hair, an enormous head, and a very wide nose, which he used to inhale more than three grams of cocaine every day of the week, including Sunday. “Take that oversized moron over there. He makes a lot of money, but he does it without the slightest bit of grace. He’s like a bull in a China shop. Let’s walk over and listen to him.”
Living up to his reputation as the Village Idiot, the moment Russell saw us heading over, he kicked it up a notch. He began pacing faster, talking louder, and sweating even more profusely…
You can read more of Belfort’s recollection of Russell Ehrens, whom he refers to as “douche bag” and the “portly, pathological liar”, at this link (starts near the bottom of page 5).