Wasilla man sentenced for two counts of sex trafficking

A Wasilla man has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for sex trafficking.

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According to a release from the Alaska’s US Attorney Bryan Schroder, In January of 2016 Alaska State Troopers searched the home and truck of 44-year-old Terry Lee Keehan, II. In their search, troopers identified several women that Keehan recruited to work for him as prostitutes in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

The release says Keehan specifically recruited drug-addicted women, and that in exchange for lodging, food and drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, the victims worked as prostitutes for him, providing him with money and sexual favors.

The troopers also search his truck, where they found a bag with drug paraphernalia, including a digital scale, glass pipes and unused baggies commonly used to distribute drugs.

Terry Keehan was sentenced to serve 13 years, 10 months in prison for two counts of sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion.

Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer.

Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF.

Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about.

Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.

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