‘Illegal escort service’ suspect set to stand trial
Published 12:16 pm Thursday, February 21, 2019
By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor
COLUMBIANA – A 54-year-old Alabaster man who is facing several human trafficking charges is set to stand trial in Shelby County Circuit Court, according to scheduling documents filed in court recently.
A Feb. 2 scheduling order filed by Circuit Court Judge William Bostick ordered the charges against Jeffrey Todd Langley, who lists an address on Elm Drive in Alabaster, be placed on the general call docket to await the court’s next available trial cycle.
A Shelby County grand jury in 2017 returned a seven-count indictment against Langley, upholding charges of first-degree human trafficking, second-degree human trafficking, possession of a controlled substance and second-degree possession of marijuana.
The Alabaster Police Department arrested Langley and 38-year-old Alabaster resident Sutton Stafford Burleigh on Sept. 29, 2016, during an investigation into what police said was an illegal escort service involving at least one juvenile victim in and around the Alabaster area.
Langley was released from jail on bonds totaling $136,000 the day after he was arrested, but was booked back into the Shelby County Jail on a bond revocation in December 2018 after he was arrested on a drug charge in Jefferson County.
He faces up to life in prison if he is convicted of the first-degree human trafficking charge, and up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of the second-degree human trafficking charge.
Burleigh was charged with one count of second-degree human trafficking and was released from jail the same day he was arrested after posting a $60,000 bond. As of Feb. 21, he had not been indicted on any charges.
According to the indictments, Langley allegedly “arranged/provided individuals for (four victims) to engage in sex with for U.S. currency” between Jan. 1, 2008 and Sept. 23, 2016.