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Logan couple arrested for housing fugitive human trafficker from Kentucky

A Cache Valley couple has been arrested after police found a fugitive human trafficker from Kentucky in their home. Police say Hunter Smith and Brandie Baney, the couple who lived in the home, denied that fugitive James David Burnham, 34, was in their home until police found confirming evidence. Smith, 33, was on probation with the Cache County Sheriff’s Office and allowed his probation officer to access his phone. A text to Burnham was found on Oct. 14 that said, “do not come out cops are here.” Baney, 29, also made a separate confession that Burnham was inside their home.

 

Both Smith and Baney were booked into jail on obstruction of justice charges. Burnham was arrested on Oct. 14 in Logan.

 

Kentucky State Police officers say Burnham was indicted on Oct. 6 for seven counts rape, eight counts of promoting a human trafficking victim under 18, and several other counts dating back 10 years.

Tyler Hewitt is the web/social media assistant at UPR. He writes stories every day, updates the website and manages the station's Twitter and Facebook pages. Tyler is a senior at Utah State University and is studying public relations, marketing, and psychology. He loves to write, listen to music, play video games, play tennis and hang out with his fiancé and cat, Juno. He is a great plant dad and recently started collecting vinyl records!