A self-styled New Jersey prophet who told one of his followers that sex with him would protect her from mental illness and instructed another to get an abortion after getting her pregnant is now facing two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, three counts of forced labor, and conspiracy to commit forced labor.
The prophet, 61-year-old Treva Edwards, founded “Jesus is Lord by the Holy Ghost” church in Orange, along with his wife, Christine Edwards, 64.
According to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Christine Edwards was also charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor in a superseding indictment.
If found guilty, Treva Edwards will be sentenced to a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. He also faces a maximum penalty of 20 years or life in prison for the forced labor charge if the violation included aggravated sexual abuse.
“Treva Edwards allegedly exploited faith, fear, and coercion to control vulnerable victims for his own benefit. As alleged in the superseding indictment, Edwards manipulated members of his church into providing uncompensated labor and subjected victims to physical, emotional, spiritual, and sexual abuse under the guise of religious authority,” U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer said in a statement.
“This Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals who, as alleged here, use positions of trust and influence to traffic, exploit, and abuse vulnerable people.”
The couple allegedly recruited their victims, who were facing financial and familial struggles, to join the church, which they operated out of a multi-unit apartment building in Orange between 2010 and 2025.
Authorities say Treva Edwards then convinced victims that he was a prophet who could communicate directly with God and that disobeying him would result in spiritual retribution, along with physical, emotional, and financial harm.
The vulnerable victims were then sent to work in and around Orange to do manual labor through contracts secured by the pastor and his wife with residential and commercial properties, but they were paid no wages.
“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,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.
He allegedly threatened his victims with “reputational harm, homelessness, hunger,” along with spiritual retribution to coerce them to work for free.
“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.”
Treva Edwards also allegedly subjected two victims to repeated physical and sexual assaults.
“Between in or around 2012 through in or around December 2019, Treva Edwards repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted Victim 3 inside the Church Building,” the indictment states.
“Treva Edwards compelled Victim 3 to have sex with him, in part by using physical force, and in part by telling Victim 3 that having sex with him was God’s will and would prevent Victim 3 from becoming mentally ill.”
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