Woman says man made her sex seller

Austin man tortured her with shock device, bound her, she claims.

An Austin man has been charged in a prostitution case after a woman said she was tortured and forced to sell sex for several years.

John Steven Hernandez, 56, was booked Saturday on a felony charge of compelling prostitution, according to court and jail records.

In November, an Austin police detective investigating human trafficking cases met with the woman, who told police she had fallen on hard times at the age of 18 and married Hernandez in 2008 for financial reasons.

Hernandez, she said, had offered to help her, according to an arrest affidavit, and suggested marriage as a solution.

The woman told police that Hernandez initially subjected her to physical and sexual violence, including connecting an electrical device to her and shocking her at various times, according to the document, which was released Monday.

The device, called a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device, is normally used to produce an electrical current to treat nerve-related conditions.

At other times, Hernandez tied the woman up with rope, plastic wrap or duct tape, and in one case she was forced to breathe through a “funneltype tube,” the affidavit said.

The woman told police that