Alleged child traffickers enter guilty plea

A couple entered a guilty plea on human traf- ficking charges in connec tion with a north Burnet County counseling center for children, who were allegedly used to further for-profit businesses.

In February, co-defendants Gary and Meghann Wiggins pled guilty in the 424th District Court of Burnet County to six counts each of trafficking of persons, each of which is a second-degree felony.

“Their plea requires each of them to complete a period deferred adjudication probation of 10 years and requires Gary Wiggins to serve 90 days in jail,” Burnet County Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Dillard said in a statement. “During the probation period, they will be prohibited from having any role in any type of residential facility for children.

“They will be required to comply with the reporting requirements of their probation officers, to comply with many other orders of the court, and they will pay restitution of over $100,000 to the victims of their crimes.”

Dillard offered insight into what would happen if the couple violates the plea agreement.

“If they fail to comply with the terms of their probation, they may be adjudicated and sentenced to any term within the full range of punishments that are available for this offense, which include a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years for each count,” Dillard stated.

This plea arises from a 2018 investigation into a facility for children that was operated by these defendants under the name “The Joshua Home Ministries,” located outside of Bertram.

The organization purported to provide faithbased long-term residential counseling and education to children with behavioral issues in exchange for substantial monthly tuition and fees.

“The investigation revealed that several of the children were used as labor in the Wiggins’ for-profit landscaping and moving businesses while being provided a substandard ‘education’ and being subjected to inappropriate and excessive disciplinary measures,” Dillard stated. “The victims were also subjected to isolation, lack of medical care, restricted communication with their families, and lack of opportunities for recreation or entertainment.

Under Texas law, parents are entitled to the “services and earnings” of their children; however, third parties such as the Wiggins’ are not entitled to those services and earnings, he explained.

“These children did not freely volunteer to work for the Wiggins’ businesses, their parents were not informed that the children would be performing manual labor, and their parents were not informed that the Wig- gins' would be profiting from the labor of these children,” he continued. “None of the proceeds of that labor were credited to the children’s tuition or conveyed to them or their parents in any way and financial records in dicate that the Wiggins’ were the only beneficia ries of the labor and services provided by these children.”

"Trafficking," un der Texas Law, means to transport, entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another person by any means. It is an offense to traffic a person with intent to have them engage in forced labor/ services or to knowingly benefit from their forced labor or services.

“In order to secure this deferred adjudication plea agreement, both defendants, with their lawyer at their side, freely confessed and pled guilty under oath and in open court to the offenses as charged in the indictments. Further, the judge found that the ev- idence was sufficient to sustain a guilty verdict,” Dillard stated.