Human-trafficking charge dropped against man, but he’s still ordered to remain in jail

Tracy Releford

Criminal charges have been dropped against a man accused of human trafficking.

He’s still in jail, though.

Tracy Releford, 50, was arrested in August. Originally he faced one felony count of aggravated human trafficking, one felony count of commercial sexual exploitation of a child, one felony count of promoting the sale of sexual relations and one misdemeanor count of buying sexual relations.

Those charges were dismissed in March by Douglas County District Court Judge Peggy Kittel. However, the order for dismissal is currently under appeal by prosecutors, so Releford was ordered to remain in jail until that matter is settled.

Now, to explain how this all went down I’ve got to get into a few details about how the court system works. Bear with me for a second:

According to an arrest affidavit filed in District Court Releford was propositioned outside a Lawrence liquor store by a 20-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl.

Later, Releford and a friend met up with the two, drove to Kansas City, Mo., and each man had sex with one of the two females, the affidavit says. Because their names are redacted in the documents it’s unclear who Releford is accused of having sex with. But he allegedly paid one female for having sex with his friend and refused to pay the other, arguing that he and she never completed the act.

An argument began, someone called the police, and Releford was arrested, the affidavit says.

Now, here’s where things get technical. Arrest affidavits, like the one in Releford’s case, are documents filed by police that state the grounds for making an arrest. Anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty, of course, so all the allegations in arrest affidavits must be proved in court.

In felony cases like Releford’s the courts hold something called a preliminary hearing. Think of it like a mini trial. Both the prosecution and the defense can call witnesses and present evidence. At the end of the hearing the judge rules on whether there is probable cause to warrant ordering a full-blown criminal trial in the case.

If there’s not enough probable cause, the judge will rule accordingly and the accused party will not head to trial. Sometimes the person is released from jail; other times prosecutors will start the process over again.

Well, in September Releford appeared in court for his preliminary hearing, court documents state. Afterward, Judge Kittel found that enough probable cause existed to order him to stand trial. However, the defense motioned for Kittel to reconsider her decision regarding Releford’s human-trafficking charge. The judge took the matter under advisement and on March 9 she reversed her earlier ruling.

While the reported victim was indeed under 18, Kittle wrote in her new ruling, “there is a lack of probable cause to believe that (Releford) recruited, harbored, transported, provided or obtained the victim for labor or services for the purpose of subjecting the person to involuntary servitude or forced labor.”

The human-trafficking charge was then dismissed.

Prosecutor Alice Walker appealed the dismissal and motioned for the remaining charges to be dismissed in order for that appeal to be properly heard, court documents state.

In the meantime, however, Releford must stay in jail because of the high-level felonies he is accused of, Walker wrote. Specifically she mentioned the human trafficking and commercial exploitation of a child charges.

Kittel granted Walker’s motion, dismissed the remaining charges and ordered Releford to stay in jail.

Releford’s criminal trial was originally scheduled to start on Monday, but obviously that’s now on hold. Additional hearings have not yet been scheduled for the case.

In 1991, Releford was convicted of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections. It’s unclear when he was released from prison but records show he was still an inmate in January 2013.


I report on crime and courts for the Journal-World. I can be reached by email at cswanson@ljworld.com, by phone at (785) 832-7284 or on Twitter @Conrad_Swanson.