Three SLO County juries, three convictions for human trafficking

July 24, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Three separate juries found three people guilty of pimping out a previously missing 15-year-old girl in San Luis Obispo County, District Attorney Dan Dow announced today.

The juries found 32-year-old Tremaine Quincy Tejon Jones, 30-year-old Joshua Diante Murphy, and 32-year-old Heather Lynne Hunt guilty of human trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor. Murphy was also found guilty of possession and distribution of child pornography and committing sex acts on a 15-year-old.

In addition, Hunt was found to have trafficked the young survivor under “force, fear, threats, menace, duress, or coercion.”

“Trafficking a young juvenile for commercial sexual exploitation is outrageous criminal conduct that devastates its victims leaving wounds for a lifetime and that’s why we work so hard to combat it here in San Luis Obispo County,” Dow said. “We honor the young survivor who demonstrated strength and courage during the lengthy process that included testimony in court and rigorous cross examination by three defense attorneys.I am very proud of our prosecution team that includes partners from many agencies who collaborate with our San Luis Obispo County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.”

Jone’s jury reached a guilty verdict on Wednesday, Murphy’s jury returned on Thursday morning, and Hunt’s jury made their decision after lunch on Thursday.

This is the first time three juries have participated in the same trial in this county.

The reason for three juries is that the law allows incriminating statements of a defendant to be used as evidence only against that particular defendant in court. Here, all three juries heard the bulk of the evidence, but when evidence was taken that was admissible to one defendant and not the others the juries for the other two defendants were not present.

During the two-month trial, the three juries heard evidence that Murphy, Hunt, and Jones lured the 15-year-old victim from Nevada and trafficked her for 16 days through various cities in California, ending with her rescue by law enforcement in Pismo Beach in Jan. 2021.

Jones is scheduled for a hearing on July 25 to determine if his prior conviction for “gross sexual imposition” out of North Dakota is a strike under California Law. If the prior allegation is found true it could double Jones’ potential sentence.

All three defendant are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 27.

The case was investigated by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Kim Dittrich.