TEEN GIRL FREED FROM CAPTIVITY IN CRACK SHACK

Another case of crack shack horrors has been uncovered by
poliice.

Charges have been laid and a female youth freed from days of alleged
abuse by organized crime captors, RCMP said Wednesday, three days
after they first encountered the victim.

"RCMP conducted a routine vehicle stop (on Sunday) and found a beaten
and distraught 18-year-old female driver," said Cpl. Jay Buckner. "She
told the officer that she had been held in a crack shack against her
will, for several days, where she had been sexually assaulted."

The information she gave led police to a house in the 7000 block of
Emerald Drive. Inside, members found about two ounces of apparent
crack cocaine, scales and ammunition and other evidence. Five adult
males were arrested at the scene. Two of them have been charged.

Joel Milton Clark, 22, has been charged with forcible confinement,
sexual assault, assault and obstructing or resisting a peace officer.
He was also has pending charges under the Motor Vehicle Act for an
unrelated incident.

Brent Herbert Sterland, 59, has been charged with forcible
confinement, sexual assault, assault and unlawful weapons possession.
Clark was scheduled for a court appearance on Wednesday, Sterland's
first appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

This is at least the seventh case involving suspected forcible
confinement that Prince George RCMP have disclosed over the past year.
All are directly tied to crack shacks or the street-level drug trade,
they said.