NJ Religious Leader Demanded Sex, Forced Labor From His Followers: Feds

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Forced sex. Cleaning raw sewage. Killing rats. These were some of the degrading acts that leaders of a “church” in New Jersey exploited their followers into performing, federal prosecutors allege.

On Wednesday, a grand jury in the district of New Jersey returned a superseding indictment against two Orange residents: Treva Edwards, 61, and his wife, Christine Edwards, 64.

The married couple are accused of being the founders and pastors of the “Jesus is Lord by the Holy Ghost,” which operated out of an apartment building in Orange between 2010 and 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The couple recruited people who were having family or financial struggles, inviting them to join their church and live in the building, prosecutors said.

They soon found out that their new clergy leaders had some harsh demands, authorities allege:

“Treva Edwards preached to the victims that he communicated God’s will, that it was God’s will for them to work, and that members had to perform labor to serve God. The Edwardses convinced the victims that they would lose favor with God and ‘the Prophet’ if they did not perform labor. Treva Edwards spread fear among the victims through verbal and emotional abuse and threats of reputational harm, homelessness, hunger, spiritual retribution, punishments and more hard labor to gain their obedience and compel them to perform unpaid labor.”

According to prosecutors, the Edwardses got contracts to provide manual labor in and around the city, including cleaning and gutting commercial and residential properties, shoveling snow, removing bulk trash, moving furniture, cleaning raw sewage and exterminating rodent infestations.

The Edwardses then put their followers to work – keeping all the money and never paying any wages, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, the couple kept their followers living in harsh conditions, prosecutors alleged:

“The Edwardses instituted and enforced strict rules about when and whether the victims could eat or sleep, when and for how long they were to pray and work, and whether they could speak to non-members or leave the church building. They isolated the victims, monitored their communications and whereabouts, and convinced them that non-members were evil or possessed by the devil. They also deprived the victims of sleep and typically fed them only once a day after they completed their work.”

Two members of the church were also forced into sex, prosecutors alleged:

“According to the allegations in the superseding indictment, Treva Edwards controlled and subjected two victims to repeated physical and sexual assaults, impregnating one victim and instructing her to get an abortion, and telling the other victim that having sex with him was God’s will and would prevent her from becoming mentally ill.”

Treva Edwards was charged with two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, three counts of forced labor, and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Christine Edwards was charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor.

If convicted, the charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion against Treva Edwards carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. The forced labor charge against Treva Edwards carries a maximum penalty of twenty years or life in prison if the violation included aggravated sexual abuse. The conspiracy to commit forced labor charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Authorities said anyone with information can contact HSINewarkHumanTrafficking@hsi.dhs.gov or (866) 347-2423. Victims of human trafficking can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888.

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