Edenfield Rd, Jacksonville, FL, United States
On September 16, 2009, the Canadian woman was apprehended by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office as part of an undercover prostitution sting. At that time, the woman became hysterical and advised officers about what had happened to her. The investigation into Townsend's sex trafficking activities then commenced. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office conducted an undercover prostitution sting. Upon arrival in Jacksonville, after stops in many cities down from New York City, Townsend caused the women to engage in commercial sex acts from an abandoned apartment on Edenfield Road and also from the locations of customers, including local homes and hotels. Investigators amassed a large amount of evidence including hotel records, phone records, bank records, and 28 internet ads in which Townsend advertised the victim's availability for commercial sex acts. Investigators also seized a GPS from Townsend's vehicle and were able to establish locations of various customers in Jacksonville from the data contained in the GPS. The Canadian victim testified that Townsend forcibly removed her personal property (including her passport, cell phone, and laptop computer) from her belongings at the residence of Townsend's brother in Thomasville, North Carolina as a means of preventing her from leaving. Investigators actually recovered the woman's hidden passport from inside a stereo speaker at the brother's residence. Evidence also included a social networking message to one of the victims in which Townsend acknowledged that the victim would be beaten for not making "her number," a reference to a nightly quota of $1,000.00.