Man, 27, sentenced to mandatory life in prison in human trafficking of 2 girls

A 27-year-old West Palm Beach man has been sentenced to two mandatory life sentences for human trafficking of two 15-year-old girls in 2020 as part of the Palm Beach County Trafficking Task Force.

Cheridon Edgar also was sentenced to 38 years for four counts of lewd and lascivious battery and deemed as a sex offender. Circuit Court Judge Scott Suskaurer sentenced him on March 12 after a jury convicted him on Jan. 22 in West Palm Beach.

Detectives from the task force began an investigation on June 5, 2020, into two girls engaging in sexual activity with an adult male, identified as Edgar, in exchange for cash money and items of monetary value.

Edgar was known to carry a handgun, as seen by victims and would threaten the victims and their families as a means of control when they no longer wanted to continue to engage in sex with him, according to an arrest report.

Edgar was arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County jail on Aug. 10, 2020.

Victim 1 told detectives she first met Edgar through mutual friends and that he was the first to initiate contact through Snapchat in approximately October or November 2019. They engaged in sexual activity twice, according to the arrest report.

Victim 2 first began communicating with Edgar on Snapchat while at a friend’s house in December 2019 or January 2020. She told them he engaged in sex with him on four occasions within a week's span, according to detectives.

People younger than 16 cannot give consent under any circumstances. Those 16 and 17 can give consent to a partner up to 23. Edgar was 22 during both encounters.

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