A MAN branded the 'Vampire trucker' who kept women as sex slaves in his truck as he drove across the US has been jailed for 20 years.
Timothy Jay Vafeades, from Utah, in the US, was found guilty of enticing two women, who were aged 18 and 19.
He then kept them prisoner and changed what they looked like so no one would recognise them.
According to prosecutors the 56-year-old sexually assaulted and brutally beat the women and ground down their teeth, holding them hostage in his trailer which he called the "Twilight Express."
Vafaedes spoke to the court as he was sentenced and called himself a "monster" for his actions and said: "I am sorry for my life. I am sorry for not recognizing myself and what a monster I am."
The trucker had an obsession with vampires and used to create images of himself with coffins. He also wore a set of fangs.
Vafaedes pleaded guilty in June to two counts of transporting for illegal sexual activity and got a deal meaning he avoided the maximum sentence of 20 years.
One of his victims, spoke in court, and according to the Salt Lake Tribune said: "I feel fortunate I can actually speak today, I was assaulted with a belt. He raped me."
Another woman said she was captured after Vafaedes told her they were going for dinner and then did not appear to be driving towards any restaurants.
She recalled: "He then said, 'I got you now. You are mine.'"
Vafeades used a Dremel power tool on their mouths, and he also took out two of her teeth with a knife, so she had to wear false ones.
The women then had their hair cut and dyed, and one was made to marry him.
One woman told the court she wasn't even allowed to go to the bathroom without his permission.
According to Vafeades lawyer, he was abused seriously as a child and repeated this pattern on his victims.
In 2013, Vafeades, 56, drove his truck to a weighing station in Minnesota, and two officers noticed bruises on one of the women’s faces and arrested him.
Charging documents detailed an old restraining order which they found.
After he was arrested, according to a report, a second victim came forward saying she had been held captive.
But Vafeades lawyer said he should not have been arrested because the restraining order was outdated.
One of his other victims met him when he was in a hospice – according to court documents he wanted to marry her.
However he began to assault her, after she agree to travel with him, and this went on for six months.
She then managed to escape.
Another woman was held on his truck for three months after he met her at a retail store in 2005. Authorities said Vafeades assaulted women he met online, and also at a college.
But there were no charges as the statute of limitations was up.
In May he pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography, and at the same time had a second child pornography count was dropped.
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