Description

There are two perpetrators and two victims involved in this case, Robert Sharpe III and Kariah Heiden, who is both a perpetrator and victim. For the purposes of this entry, “the victim” will refer to the unnamed woman who endured severe torture and trauma at the hands of Sharpe and Heiden.

Sharpe and the victim met while the victim was waiting at a bus stop. Sharpe manipulated the victim into living with him in his North Las Vegas home. The victim stated Sharpe was initially kind to her and provided her with food, clothes, and shelter but he soon began exploiting and torturing her. Heiden, who was also exploited by Sharpe, was responsible for aiding Sharpe in sexually exploiting the victim and preventing her from leaving. Heiden often guarded the victim at night and witnessed the constant abuse she faced.

Sharpe was indicted on 17 counts including assault, battery, kidnapping, sex trafficking, among many other crimes. Heiden was indicted on 6 counts including sex trafficking, kidnapping, and preventing a witness or victim from reporting a crime.

The victim endured extremely severe physical and psychological torture at the hands of Sharpe, including beatings, starvation, waterboarding, burning, and forced isolation, among other forms of brutality and torture. During these incidents, she often passed out due to the amount of pain and trauma inflicted upon her.

Sharpe’s bail was set at $1,000,000 while Heiden’s was set to $500,000.