Man flees while awaiting verdict in child sex trafficking case

Reginald Ellis, 37, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday as he awaited the verdict in his jury trial, the district attorney’s office said.

Ellis was found guilty of three charges: sex trafficking of a child under 16, trafficking of a child under 14 and child abuse with sexual exploitation. Ellis was released on his own recognizance in January 2023, to which the Public Prosecution Service objected at the time.

Ellis was arrested in June 2022 following an investigation by the Human Exploitation and Trafficking team. HEAT was initially contacted after a 16-year-old girl was admitted to hospital. Investigators discovered Ellis was prostituting and beating the girl and grooming her 14-year-old sister to be exploited for sex.