A stabbing and crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike led to the arrest of two men on human trafficking charges, state police said.
According to investigators, a trooper driving on I-76 eastbound in Lurgan Township, Franklin County, found a vehicle that had driven into the center median around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Police said two men and a woman were in the vehicle. One of the men had a laceration in the area of his neck and shoulder and was flown to the hospital. Troopers said the woman ran from the scene but was found a short distance away.
“Preliminary indicators of human trafficking were observed and the Troop H – Major Case Team was activated to conduct the investigation,” state police said in a press release.
Investigators said they learned that the woman didn’t know the two men. She believed she was going to New York but they were actually headed for Philadelphia. The woman was told that when she got there, she’d be “forced to engage in coerced sexual activity and was threatened if she resisted,” state police said.
The men were identified as 30-year-old Jose Antonio Hernandez Guiterrez and 28-year-old Edgar Jesus Espinoza Gamboa. Both were charged with human trafficking, simple assault and terroristic threats. They were taken to the Franklin County Jail.
Police didn’t release any details about who stabbed one of the men. But according to court documents cited by CBS affiliate WHP, one of the men told troopers that the woman had stabbed him. The woman also told investigators that she thought the men were drugging her, the TV station reported.
State police said the Troop H Major Case Team is continuing to investigate along with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
