Omaha- Two Nebraska teenagers may have been looking for freedom or fun when they fled a Fremont group home and headed for Omaha last August.

But they found Leonard Ray Russell, a 37-year-old man who dragged the girls across Iowa, forcing them to solicit sex and perform at strip clubs in exchange for food and shelter.

A Crawford County, Iowa, jury last week found Russell guilty of two counts of human trafficking. It was the first conviction under a 2006 Iowa law, which makes it a felony offense to recruit or transport someone for the purpose of “commercial sexual activity.”

One of the law’s champions, former State Sen. Maggie Tinsman of Davenport, Iowa, said the conviction shows the law is needed to thwart those who seek to profit off the vulnerability of others.

“This is truly a human rights thing,” said Tinsman.

The two Nebraska girls, then ages 15 and 16, were outside during a scheduled recreation period when they slipped away from the Masonic Eastern Star Home for Children in Fremont and started toward Omaha on Aug. 19, 2007, said Ron Giesselmann, executive director of the group home.

Administrators from the home notified authorities as soon as they noticed the girls had gone, but it was about 10 days before an anonymous tip led police to the girls, Giesselmann said. By then, Russell had lured the girls into prostitution.

The Nebraska girls had been in Omaha for less than a day when they met a woman, Marcia Ryan, 20, at an Omaha motel, where she allegedly introduced them to Russell, according to court documents. Russell has had addresses in both Omaha and Sioux City, Iowa, said Bob Brammer of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Over the next few days, the girls traveled across Iowa and into Illinois with Russell, who gave them fake identities and arranged for them to perform at strip clubs in several Iowa cities. He gave them food, clothes and shelter, but the girls were forced to give him all the money they earned, according to court documents.

In Davenport, he told the girls how to solicit sex, and in Denison, a man paid each of the girls $125 in exchange for sex acts, according to court documents. The girls gave the money to Russell.

After a few days in Denison, the 16-year-old was told she would remain in Denison to perform topless at Big Earl’s Key Club, a local strip joint. The 15-year-old was put on a Greyhound bus to Washington, D.C., where she was told she would work as a prostitute and live with Russell’s cousin.

An anonymous tip led to the rescue of both girls. Denison police took custody of the 16-year-old girl, and police in Washington, D.C., were waiting at the bus station to pick up the other girl when she arrived.

During Russell’s four-day trial, the girls both testified that they did not like what they were doing and felt ashamed, but didn’t think they had anywhere else to go, Brammer said.

Russell’s conviction is a relief for those involved.

“I’m just happy all the kids are safe and sound and he’s in jail,” said Giesselmann.

The two girls were not state wards. They had been placed at the home by their families, he said, and are no longer living there.

In addition to the trafficking charges, Russell was convicted of one count of ongoing criminal conduct and two counts of pandering. Russell is being held in the Crawford County Jail. His sentencing has been scheduled for Dec. 8.

The five felony convictions could keep Russell in prison for a long time. The felonies carry maximum penalties ranging from 10 to 25 years.

Russell’s alleged associate, Ryan, is scheduled to appear in court on similar charges Friday. The Omaha woman has been arrested on felony charges of ongoing criminal conduct, pandering and purchase or sale of an individual.