Who Is Hope Votaw And What Happened To Her? Teenager Forced Into Trafficking By Shayna & William Ber

Posted by Arica Deslauriers on Sunday, May 19, 2024

Hope Votaw, currently aged 24, has undergone a nightmare around 10 years ago.

Hope Votaw is a sex-trafficking victim from Allen.

Her story has been featured on Investigation Discovery's Web of Lies: Stolen Youth episode.

Let's learn more about her below.

Who Is Hope Votaw And What Happened To Her?

Hope Votaw became the victim of sexual abuse and trafficking when she was just aged 14-year-old in 2012 as per The Cinemaholic.

This young naive girl from Allen, Texas, who was unaware of how cruel the world can be, fell into the trap of online hunting. What actually happened was Hope had a disturbing family life with her mom Denise Votaw and her stepfather. Struggling to make friends in life and being peerless, she took the support of the internet for comfort and started chatting with an unknown person.

The teenager Hope got to know Shayla Williams, the single mother. Hope lied to Shayla saying that she was 19 years old and the two continued to keep on chatting. Gradually, the two managed to become good friends with each other. Hope even started to share her family problems and her arguments with her mother. One day, when Hope finally decided to leave home and run away, Hope's online friend Shayla even offered her a place to stay.

After Hope ran away from home, she was picked up by Shayla and a man named William Bernard Jacobs in July 2012. Worried about Hope following her absence for three days, her mother Denise took the help of the police to trace her daughter. After investigations, it was found that the sex traffickers Shayna and William were involved in sex works and even indulged Hope in it. 

From then on was the beginning of the 14-year-old's worse nightmare. William took Hope to several states and had her serve more than two dozen clients in the two weeks span.

Hope was found and brought home on the 30th of July, 2012.

Where Are Shayna & William Bernard Jacobs Today?

Shayna and William Bernard Jacobs are probably still in jail today.

They became work partners in the immoral trafficking of girls and Shayna used to assisted Jacob with marketing the teenage girl and booking clients. 

Shayla Dawn And Williams were charged with sexual assault of a child and trafficking of a person under 18 for prostitution purposes. And, in 2013, the latter one was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Thus, William will be free from jail in the year 2023.

Hope Votaw Case Wikipedia

Hope Votaw's case has not been featured on Wikipedia but it has been chronicled in the Investigation Discovery series.

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