Teen testifies his stepdad forced him and siblings to panhandle

Suspect accused of human trafficking, buying illegal drugs

The 16-year-old told jurors that it was not unusual for his stepfather to wake him up in the night to panhandle.

He said that happened about two years ago, during the 11 months that he lived with his mom and her husband, who is on trial for three counts of human trafficking connected to allegations that he forced the teen and his younger two siblings to panhandle. Prosecutors say he used the money they collected to buy drugs.

In hours of testimony against James Stewart, the teen said that almost every day he and his siblings asked strangers for money, which he said made him feel like “less of a person.”

Stewart’s trial is expected to wrap up

Friday. District Judge Cindy Leos is presiding.

The charges were filed in February, months after the Attorney General’s Office first launched child abuse cases against Stewart and his wife, Teri Sanchez. Those cases were initiated not long after school employees said they believed the couple’s youngest child was exhibiting signs of trafficking and sexual assault. Stewart is accused of sex trafficking the then 7-year-old girl in that case, which is on appeal following a mistrial.

In his testimony Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, the teen said his stepfather was physically violent only once. Stewart told him to go out and find $40, and not to come home until he did. He said he slept at a friend’s house. The next morning his mother yelled at him, and Stewart pushed him up against a wall of the hotel room where the family was staying.

Still, he said, he was afraid to say no when Stewart told him to panhandle.

He described a night when Stewart woke him around 10:30 or 11 p.m. and took him to a Walmart.

“I walked up to them just said, ‘Excuse me, sir,’ and created like this story,” he said. “I need to get my siblings some food, or I’d say that I’m trying to get myself some food. And they would just like give me a couple dollars.”

He said that on such nights, he would collect around $10 or $15, which he would give to Stewart. They would go to a home, where he would wait in the car while Stewart bought crack, he testified.

The boy estimated that when he lived with his mother and stepfather in 2017 and 2018, Stewart woke him up to panhandle in the night maybe five times, but the family would beg for money most days. Often he, his mother and two younger siblings would panhandle for several hours at a time while Stewart sat in the car.

“There were days when we didn’t, but it was rare,” he said.

The teen said he sometimes kept some of the money, but almost all of it went to Stewart. He admitted that he periodically used the proceeds to buy drugs for himself. He also acknowledged that he had previously said that Stewart was his best friend and the two had spent a lot of time together.

Another of the children testified Wednesday afternoon that Stewart slapped him once for talking about panhandling. But he said he isn’t and never has been afraid of his dad, and he smiled at him as the two sat several feet apart in the Downtown courtroom.

He also said he was good at panhandling, “’cause I was small and looked dirty.”

The boy, now 10 and living with a foster family, is expected to continue testifying Thursday morning.