Torture Victim Details Horrific Abuse as Polygamist Ringleader Is Sentenced

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Just go ahead and state your name for the record for me.

[00:00:01]>> Matt Cherry.

[00:00:02]>> Thank you.

[00:00:03]>> Thank you, judge. I want to thank the prosecutor's office and you find this matter. This this statement is from the victim.

[00:00:14]Dear Judge, I am providing the statement to share with the court the impact of the assaults that happened to me those 10 days in March 2025 at the hands of Martina, Michael, Austin, Chance, David, and on my life. I hope my words help the court understand the profound and lasting effects this event has had.

[00:00:38]These assaults have led to financial challenges due to medical bills, lost wages and expenses related to my recovery. I have many medical bills that are coming in due to my extensive injuries and that worries me. These burdens have added to the stress and anxiety I already feel. Before this, I always maintained a job. I lost at least two jobs because of Martina. Then during those two years, I couldn't work because she wouldn't let me. When I finally got free, I had so much healing to you that I still haven't been able to return to work yet.

[00:01:13]I am thankful to my family and will never doubt your devotion to me again.

[00:01:19]My broken bones healed in a few weeks time, but I was immobilized and physical therapy lasted much longer. I continued to have nightmares about the horrific things you and those men did to me, Martina, because none of this would have happened had you not been the ring leader or mastermind behind every bad thing that happened to me.

[00:01:40]I thought Martina was my friend. She told me she loved and cared about me. I did not believe that Martina can love and care for others, that she lacks understanding of love, compassion, and honor.

[00:01:52]I believe that this is something she will do again, and I believe the only way to keep our community and me is to locked up for as long as possible.

[00:02:00]Before Martina came back into my life, I have never met any of the other individuals involved in this situation.

[00:02:08]Once I stepped into that home on Parker Avenue, I was never allowed to leave alone, talk to my family again, or even keep my own cell phone. I endured the abuse from every one of these individuals for the entire two years I was held there.

[00:02:23]Martina is deceitful, manipulative, and cruel woman who enjoyed hurting me and watching others hurt me. I pleaded with her to stop the beings that were happening to me. I was in so much pain, but she ignored my pleas and insisted that another person assault me.

[00:02:40]I cannot understand why any of them did this to me. I never did anything to any of them or to the animals living in the house that I was forced to stay in. As a matter of fact, I've never done anything to anyone to deserve what each one of you did to me. Martina used everyone against me and I just cannot understand why. The torture I endured was unthinkable and barbaric. You didn't treat me like a human being.

[00:03:06]I remember during the time you held me captive, you stay in response to Michael about allowing me to eat. And you said he can have minimal food to eat. I'm not that inhumane. I know we have to feed him something. Just like in the body cam video when you said you weren't a kidnapper and don't abduct people and you thought that was funny. None of this was funny to me.

[00:03:34]But I do think it is a bit of karma that you spend years of your life locked up.

[00:03:39]Judge, I ask you to give Martina as much time as possible because I truly believe she will be offended and do this again to someone else.

[00:03:50]She has showed zero remorse in this case. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me talk about how this event.

[00:04:00]I do want to say judge, as hard as that is for me. Almost 30 years ago to this day, I was in almost a very similar situation and I was a victim of a very horrific violent crime in in Judge McDonald's court.

[00:04:18]with that prosecutor man.

[00:04:22]Um I'm I'm 46 years old and that happened to me when I was 16. Every day I live and so Austin and we're so lucky to have them but our family asks that you do the best you can give Martina as much time as possible. Thank you.

[00:04:42]>> Thank you, Mr. Cherry.

[00:04:44]Anything else? state of Ohio.

[00:04:46]>> No, your honor.

[00:04:47]>> Thank you, Miss Eisenberg.

[00:04:50]>> Good morning, your honor. Your honor, I'll indicate to the court that the defense agrees with the state and as much as merger is concerned.

[00:04:59]And your honor, on behalf of Mrs. Martinez, Sweda, Martina, Mr. Windgate, and myself, I'd first like to thank the court for continuing this matter until today. Um, we really appreciate your grace and flexibility. It's not lost on us that A final resolution in this case has been long awaited, much anticipated.

[00:05:20]Um but those few extra days afforded us by the court or indispensable necessary um to do this right, get this right. So again, judge, thank you.

[00:05:31]We're before the court today because back on April 30th, Martina entered a plea of guilty to one count of kidnapping and two counts assault wherein she did take accountability for her actions in March 2025. It was a guilty plea. And your honor, based on the facts of this case, and I know the court is aware of some of them, it's easy to understand why she chose to enter the plea rather than take this case to trial.

[00:06:01]The facts are bad. The facts are heavy.

[00:06:04]And quite frankly, the facts are embarrassing to all parties involved.

[00:06:10]But I will say to the court that whereas the court knows what the facts of the case are, the court really knows nothing about Martina other than the fact that she decided to hold herself responsible, take accountability in this case by entering a plea of guilty. And again, I will say to the court, she entered that plea of guilty because she recognized she was guilty. And now I do understand that in her pre-sentence investigation report, she says, "I don't think I kidnapped this man." That's true. She did not think that. But after numerous conversations with myself and Mr. Windgate, she came to understand that the legal definition of kidnapping is a different than the lay person definition of kidnapping.

[00:06:55]And so today, is taking accountability for her actions. However, your honor, those actions, those 10 days in March of 2025 are not the sum total of who Martina is.

[00:07:10]As she stands before this court, she is 29 years old.

[00:07:15]At 3 months old, her stepfather began sexually abusing her. By two, he was raping her. She was she lived in a home with her mother who did not listen to her. When she said, "Your man, my stepfather is raping me until she was 9 years old."

[00:07:36]She suffered until she went to go live with her father.

[00:07:41]Things were not much different. In fact, they were worse. Her father, a drug addict, used to sell Martina for pills.

[00:07:51]He would dress her up as a hooker and give her away to people for money.

[00:08:00]It wasn't until she was 14 years old.

[00:08:03]Oddly enough, living in and out of hotels with her father that she made a friend at one of these hotels. And it just so happened that the friend's mother was a social worker, called children's services, and Martina was removed at 14 years old from her father's care where she was placed into foster care. Things were different.

[00:08:24]Sexual abuse stopped. But she had nobody. She had no guidance, nobody to love her. And so I will agree with the statement that was just made about Martina. She does not understand love because she has never felt it.

[00:08:44]Neither of her parents, none of her extended family. She has been she stands here with me and Mr. wind gate. But quite frankly, she's well sits here just as alone as she's lived her entire life.

[00:09:00]After she got out of foster care at 8 or yes, at 18, she decided to strike it out on her own.

[00:09:09]She decided to go and try to build the family that she never had.

[00:09:15]Albeit, she did not choose the right people.

[00:09:19]But how could she know with this type of background? And I will also say she has many mental health issues. Some of which genetic biological chemical imbalances are brain in her brain. Some of these issues come from the situations that she experienced in her life.

[00:09:42]So with this background, your honor, what type of life was Mrs. Sweda expected to have.

[00:09:50]These were the cards she was dealt and she had to play the hand the best she could.

[00:09:56]It became a matter of choices and she made a lot of wrong choices. And your honor, she will tell you that she made a lot of wrong choices.

[00:10:07]But what could a person like her do but make bad choices when nobody has shown her what is right?

[00:10:15]As a matter of fact, quite the opposite.

[00:10:17]The people who were supposed to love her, the people who are supposed to support her, the people who are supposed to help her grow, they broke her.

[00:10:27]She was broken at an early age. And that fissure just continued to get wider and wider as she got older. And all of these life experiences piled up.

[00:10:40]and she had no coping skills, no support system to help her deal with them.

[00:10:50]And your honor, I would like to make be very clear that in making these statements, it is neither my purpose nor my intention to hold Martina out as the real victim in this case. There is only one real victim in this case. That is Austin Mlelen. Not only do I wholeheartedly recognize that, but the court will hear from Martina. You'll hear from her very own mouth. She recognizes that, too.

[00:11:16]And you know, your honor, as a matter of fact, as she sits before you today, Martina is not a victim. She is not a victim of any circumstance which she has faced. No, Martina is a survivor. By all accounts, Martina is a survivor.

[00:11:36]and she will address the court today.

[00:11:39]And as has been the case throughout her entire life, most people aren't going to want to hear what she has to say.

[00:11:46]But it is so important that we listen.

[00:11:50]This is the life of somebody who has been silenced, written off, discounted, discarded.

[00:12:00]And perhaps had someone taken a moment to listen to Martina all that time ago to really hear her and do right by her, we would not be standing before the court today.

[00:12:11]And finally, I began on a note of gratitude, and I would like to end on one.

[00:12:18]I'd like to thank the court for appointing me to Martina's case. I'm not sure if the court recalls, but on the day I was appointed, I was a little hesitant to accept the appointment. Um, in light of everything I was hearing, I just was not sure that I could handle a client like Martina.

[00:12:35]But your honor, I am so glad that I gave Martina and this case a chance because that is just not an accurate account of who this young woman is. She is so much more than a sensationalized headline.

[00:12:47]She is a human being. She's a human being just like you and me.

[00:12:52]And that also makes her flawed.

[00:12:56]She is flawed. and she's fragile, but all she can ever do is try to be a better person tomorrow than she is today.

[00:13:07]I believe she is on that path now. While she has been in the jail, she has taken a full um or has accessed all of the resources available to her, counselors, any classes. She has a bunch of certificates that I'm going to collect before depending on what the court does if she's sent to the institution before she is sent. So I do believe she is on that path now. She is ready and willing to accept the consequences of her actions and use this experience as a stepping stone for growth and for healing.

[00:13:47]I myself am very very proud of Martina and it's been a privilege to represent her and serve as her voice for the last 14 months. But I do think she's ready to amplify her own voice, your honor, and advocate for herself if the court would allow her >> Yes.

[00:14:02]>> to make a statement.

[00:14:03]>> Thank you, Mrs. Squida.

[00:14:11]>> Your honor, would it be all right if >> she can sit?

[00:14:32]I have apology letter. Um, I want to start off by giving you a huge apology from the bottom of my heart. I take full accountability for my actions and the role I parttook in all of this. I know mentally you will have to deal with this for the rest of your life. And for that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I caused you so much pain mentally, physically, and very much emotionally. I should have stepped up and put a stop to all this.

[00:14:58]And I'm sorry I did not. I was a coward.

[00:15:00]I was a big coward to do so.

[00:15:03]I should have not been a I should have been a friend when you needed me, not be the one to knock you down when you're already down. I do not expect you to accept my apology. I deserve to sit and think about my behavior and my actions.

[00:15:15]I also want to admit I was a monster and I'm sorry because I know that's not the person you knew me when you first met me. I also want to apologize to your family. I am so sorry for all the pain and hurt I have done to all of you. I made you guys worry and made you guys cry. If I was in your shoes and that was my baby, I feel the same way.

[00:15:38]I'm so sorry. for all of you and I do take accountability. None of you needed to feel pain in your hearts. I'm so sorry, Austin and family. If I could take it all back, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry that I brought you around that dangerous situation. When it rains, of course, and I was the lightning that struck and hurt you. I'm so sorry when you called out for help, I ignored it because I should have called 911, but I was too afraid and selfish. You tried your hardest let me know you cared about me, but all I did was stab you in the back and cause pain. I am so sorry for all the hurt I caused you and your family and all the pain and all the suffering you all had to face because of my poor choices and actions for all of this. I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart and my deepest apologies.

[00:16:26]>> Thank you.