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Police Investigate Child Trafficking Ring

2010-11-12T17:59:00.000-05:00

Atlanta CEO Accused Of Having Sex With A 12-Year-Old
By Renee Starzyk, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 5:25 pm EST November 11, 2010

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Gwinnett County police arrested a 56-year-old executive and charged him with having sex with a 12-year-old girl, who may be part of a child prostitution ring.

Peter Privateer, the president and CEO of Reflex Systems in Atlanta, was recently charged with child molestation and booked into the Gwinnett County jail.

Police say Privateer paid a pimp $600 for the night with the girl at the Days Inn in Duluth in 2008. The girl received $200 of that money.

"It’s very troubling," said Cpl. Brian Kelly. "Any exploitation of anybody and particularly a child is very disturbing.”

Gwinnett County police have issued arrest warrants for Marcelo DeSautu, 38, who they said operated as the girl's pimp and may be running a child prostitution ring in metro Atlanta.

Cobb County police are also looking to arrest DeSautu, who they said was involved in similar activities in their area.

Both police agencies said that it is not unusual for child victims to wait years to come forward.

“In many of these cases the children are very intimidated and very threatened and scared of the consequences," said Kelly. "They believe they have done something wrong when they haven’t. They've been exploited."

Privateer lives in Sugar Loaf Country Club, a prestigious gated community in Duluth. No one answered the door at his office in Atlanta on Thursday.

“There’s no profile to who’s involved and who exploits and who gets wrapped up in these type of things," Kelly told CBS Atlanta. "As we’ve seen throughout history, and throughout the country and the world, criminals can be ministers to priests to your common thugs.”

Privateer remains jailed in Gwinnett County. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

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Proposal on human trafficking might die in legislature's lame-duck session

2010-11-11T21:52:00.000-05:00

State senator tries to prod action on bill
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:43 PM
By Alan Johnson

The Columbus Dispatch
Asked about the fate of a proposed human-trafficking law she's been working on for two years, state Sen. Teresa Fedor didn't have to think long about it.

"Two words: lame duck," she said.

Indeed, a lame-duck session of the General Assembly later this year will decide whether Ohio joins 43 states with stand-alone laws or remains a haven for those who traffic in people for sex or labor.

"I dare them not to" pass the bill, the Toledo Democrat said today at a Statehouse news conference. "We're going to be held accountable for not doing anything."

She was joined by members of the new Abolition Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition in the Dayton area. Also backing a tougher law are federally supported human-trafficking coalitions in Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

Despite Fedor's challenge, and the lobbying of hundreds of supporters statewide, chances are slim that the trafficking proposal will even be considered in an abbreviated lame-duck legislative session. Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, has made it clear that he intends to severely limit the session, possibly just to reject several appointments by outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland.

That would mean starting over with a new trafficking bill in the legislative session scheduled to begin in January.

Mark Ensalaco, a University of Dayton professor, human-rights expert and member of Abolition Ohio, said passage of the bill is "critically important."

"Trafficking is here, and society has a moral obligation to abolish trafficking and free all slaves from captivity," he said.

Ensalaco, who has studied human-rights violations, including kidnapping and torture, for 25 years, said trafficking is "a monster of a very different nature" because it's based on greed, not politics.

Human trafficking is second only to the illegal drug trade in worldwide crimes.

The Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, established last year by Attorney General Richard Cordray, found that more than 1,000 Ohioans younger than 18 were victims in the past year. Thousands more were at risk, along with hundreds of immigrants who were forced to work for little or no pay.

Fedor's proposal is supported by both Democrats and Republicans. If adopted, it would give Ohio one of the strongest human-trafficking laws in the country. The measure would create a felony-level offense of trafficking in people, expand existing law to include forced labor, and make it a first-degree felony to compel a person younger than 16 to engage in prostitution.

Cordray lost his re-election bid to Republican Mike DeWine, a former U.S. senator, lieutenant governor and county prosecutor. DeWine told The Dispatch that he is "very interested" in continuing the work of the human-trafficking commission after he takes office Jan. 10. He said he has not studied the law to see what changes are needed.

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Human Trafficking: Snakehead Gangs Targeted

2010-11-11T21:49:00.000-05:00

9:41am UK, Thursday November 11, 2010

Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

British and Chinese police are joining forces to fight human trafficking in which the notorious Chinese "snakehead" gangs are deeply involved.

Around 1,300 of the people brought illegally into the UK each year to work as prostitutes - half of the annual total - come from China.

The agreement, which will involve exchanges of information and visits, came as a result of the Prime Minister's two-day visit to China.

Police plan to work more closely on tackling issues including kidnapping, extortion and money-laundering.

"China is an absolutely critical partner in our efforts to crack down on the scourge of human trafficking," a Downing Street spokesman said.

"This is a significant milestone in these efforts."

A meeting is being held between British and Chinese authorities later this month to discuss how to improve links, with options for secondments between the two countries.

There has been some UK/China co-operation on police matters in the past and the fresh agreement is designed to take it to a new level.

The Project Acumen study by UK police found that Chinese nationals made up by far the largest group of victims of human trafficking into the country.

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Nine held in clampdown on human trafficking

2010-11-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

Published Date: 12 November 2010
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
in PHOENIX, ARIZONA
NINE suspected human traffickers have been arrested by the US authorities, it was revealed yesterday.
They are believed to be part of a major network transporting thousands of illegal immigrants every year from Mexico via Phoenix, Arizona.

Authorities say the gang were led by a 29-year-old Mexican man who gave his name as Mark Rodriguez-Banks, also known as Ricardo Morales-Mejia.

At least seven of the people in custody are Mexican men who are believed to be in the country illegally, authorities said.

Rodriguez-Banks provided vehicles to take immigrants arriving on foot from the border to Phoenix, and from there to other parts of the US, said Arizona department of public safety Captain Fred Zumbo.

Sixty-two vans, some disguised as belonging to florists or carpet cleaning companies, were also seized. All had false registration papers. Many of the people trafficked are thought to have come from Guatemala.

The ring is thought to be linked to a road crash in June 2009 near Sonoita, Arizona, in which 11 illegal immigrants died.

They were among 27 people "stacked like wood" inside the van and thrown onto the road when a tyre burst and the vehicle rolled over.

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Members of alleged sex trafficking ring visited area stores

2010-11-10T21:58:00.000-05:00

By MIKE McGRAW
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tue, Nov. 09, 2010 10:15 PM

A far-flung fraud and sex trafficking ring uncovered this week — in which Somali gang members from Minneapolis allegedly forced girls as young as 12 into prostitution — has a Kansas City connection.

Two of the 29 defendants in the federal case drove a stolen Cadillac Escalade to Kansas City earlier this year and used counterfeit credit cards at six area stores, according to an indictment.

It was unclear whether any of the victims were brought to Kansas City, but gang members allegedly had trafficked young women for prostitution to Ohio, Minnesota and Tennessee, and perhaps other states.

The 24-count federal grand jury indictment was unsealed Monday in Nashville, said Jerry Martin, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

“Trafficking children for sex is intolerable and the Department of Justice will aggressively enforce trafficking and other laws to eliminate these types of deplorable acts,” Martin said in a statement.

The Somali case is separate from a just-completed, three-day FBI sweep called “Operation Cross Country V,” in which 69 children were removed from prostitution and 99 suspected pimps were arrested in 40 cities across the country.

An FBI spokeswoman said 12 persons were arrested in Missouri and Kansas as part of that effort in recent days. They included two pimps and nine adults, but no victims, she said.

Members and associates of the Somali gangs, meanwhile, are accused of transporting African- American girls and women from Minneapolis and forcing them into prostitution.

The 29 defendants also were charged with obstruction of justice, perjury, auto theft and credit card fraud. Conviction on the sex trafficking offenses alone carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment.

In March, two of the defendants — Abdifatah Sharif Omar and Ahmed Aweys Sheik — drove a stolen 2002 Cadillac Escalade from Minneapolis to Kansas City, according to the indictment. They allegedly used counterfeit credit cards at six Kansas City businesses, including Dillard’s, Macy’s, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Foot Action, charging nearly $4,000 in merchandise.

Numerous local and federal law enforcement agencies were involved in the investigation, but Nashville police apparently were the first to uncover the ring, said a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville.

It began in April 2009, when Nashville police stopped a car in which five Somali gang members were riding with one of the victims, a young girl referred to as “Jane Doe Two.”

She “had not obtained the age of 13 years,” the indictment said, and had been reported as a runaway. Officers detained the gang members and arrested them for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That stop apparently led to the broader federal investigation.

Jane Doe Two and the other victims often were forced into sexual relations with gang members or with other men, according to the indictment.

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Former Sioux Falls Doctor Part of Sex Trafficking Ring

2010-11-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

by Jesse Batson
November 10, 2010

A former Sioux Falls emergency room doctor accused of sex crimes against children changed his plea this afternoon. He also faces charges of writing false prescriptions.

36-year-old Joshua Payer is charged with paying for sex with a minor -- part of a child sex trafficking ring in Tea. He's also accused of writing a false Oxycontin prescription on Oct. 2 of 2009 and giving that prescription to a Tea man who is also allegedly involved in the sex trafficking.

Now Payer has entered a plea agreement, admitting to those charges. He could face up to a lifetime and 20 years in prison, along with a $1.25 million fine.

By pleading guilty, Payer gives up his right to a grand jury trial and most of his opportunities to appeal the judge's eventual sentencing. There's also the possibility that Payer could be added to the sex offender list.

Until he's sentenced, Payer is allowed to live at home as long as he reports to police twice a day and lives under house arrest. He also had to turn over his passport.

Payer is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

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Clinton urges tougher fight against human trafficking

2010-11-10T20:53:00.001-05:00

(AFP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged nations and individual citizens everywhere to fight harder to curb human trafficking, a scourge she called entrenched but beatable.

"The problem of modern trafficking may be entrenched, but it is solvable," Clinton wrote in an opinion piece. "By using every tool at our disposal to put pressure on traffickers, we can set ourselves on a course to eradicate modern slavery."

"Many other countries can still do more to strengthen their anti-trafficking laws. And all governments can devote more resources to finding victims and punishing human traffickers," Clinton added.

"Citizens can help too, by advocating for laws that ban all forms of exploitation and give victims the support they need to recover. They can also volunteer at a local shelter and encourage companies to root out forced labor throughout their supply chains by visiting www.chainstorereaction.com," she wrote.

The top US diplomat said the number of human trafficking victims worldwide is estimated to range from 12-27 million.

Among the most common forms of trafficking are modern-day slavery, forced labor and forced prostitution.

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Walnut conference educates on human trafficking

2010-11-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

By Stacey Wang Staff Writer
Posted: 11/09/2010 12:41:53 PM PST

Some are promised the American Dream, only to become forced labor. Some are told they will fulfill lives as international models, but are really sold into prostitution. Others are simply kidnapped off the street, just because they were already missing.

These are the stories of adults and children forced into human trafficking - a modern day slavery that occurs worldwide - as shared at the "End Slavery Now" conference in Walnut on Nov. 6.

The retired Portland State University professor was the keynote speaker at Mt. San Antonio College's second human trafficking conference.

At the conference, several Mt. SAC students also made presentations on such topics as the psychological effects and the history of involuntary servitude.

The trafficking trade makes $32 billion annually with a 12.3 million population of adults and children in forced or bonded labor and forced prostitution, according to U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report 2010.

In the United States, non-citizen trafficking occurs primarily through labor, while more adult and child citizens are found in sex trafficking. These child victims are often runaways and homeless youths, the report stated.

Whether through force or deception, victims of human trafficking are made to believe they have no way out.

"There is an attempt always to keep them isolated, to not let them contact anybody from their home country, to keep them constantly under fear. They're always under threat of violence and their families are often threatened with violence as well," Farr said.

Many of the female victims who enter the undisclosed Teen Rescue Inc. facility were groomed by their slaveholders, founder Phil Ludwig said.

"It's about the mind manipulation. It's about the dependency. It's about the threats, intimidation," the retired San Diego police officer said.

Teen Rescue Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides care for trafficked girls. It offers victims boarding and education, as well as physical and mental services.

"For young women, girls, who are brought into prostitution, most of them have no idea that they are going to be moved into a debt bondage system and that's almost always the case around the world," Farr said.

In a debt bondage system, traffickers charge their victims for various reasons - including room and board, documentation buy back and others - causing an insurmountable debt that keeps debtors enslaved.

"If they do pay down their debt, they can be sold to another business, another trafficker and accrue a new debt," Farr added.

These were just a few of many unfortunate truths of trafficked females and males in the U.S. and abroad that Farr discussed with hundreds at Mt. SAC.

The conference not only showcased ways for participants to spread awareness, but how they could do their part to combat human trafficking.

Among the presentations, Emily Fernandez from the organization Fair Trade Los Angeles discussed fair trade as a way to fight human trafficking; and Jennifer Akamine of Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking talked about ways students could volunteer and bring awareness to their schools.

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Law enforcement takes aim at curbing teen prostitution

2010-11-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

By Kristina Davis

Originally published November 9, 2010 at 7:50 a.m

Local law enforcement officers who investigate human trafficking are seeing a disturbing number of cases involving teen girls who are being pimped by increasingly violent street gang members, a concern that has prompted officials to take aim at the prostitution problem.

After listening to a 45-minute presentation on modern-day pimping, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure to explore creating a full-time comprehensive task force that would address the issue regionally and push for stronger penalties against traffickers of teen prostitutes.

The task force would possibly blend the resources of two multiagency efforts that already exist — the San Diego Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, which the Sheriff’s Department runs, and the Innocence Lost task force, which the FBI leads.

Since launching in 2007, the sheriff’s San Diego Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force has identified 372 victims of sex trafficking. Thirty percent were minors, said sheriff’s Sgt. Jason King, who heads the effort.

Authorities are seeing girls who also hail from a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds — from the upper-class suburbs to the poor urban neighborhoods — and their average ages are 14 to 18 years old.

In addition, the task force has identified 164 pimps, 44 percent of whom were documented gang members.

“If you think it can’t happen to your daughter or to daughters in your communities, you need to think again,”

Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means said during the presentation. “This is the new face of sexploitation in San Diego.”

The sheriff’s task force, which includes several local law enforcement agencies, the District Attorney’s Office and nonprofit victims services, operates on federal grant funding. It has received nearly $800,000 in U.S. Department of Justice funds to pay investigators for overtime to work human trafficking cases.

Funding sources for a new full-time effort have not been found, but authorities said they would likely continue to pursue federal grants.

San Diego ranked eighth nationally for child prostitution in the United States, according to a 2003 FBI audit, the last such audit done. Los Angeles was No. 1, followed by Minneapolis and Dallas.

Teen prostitutes are usually recruited one of two ways, said San Diego police Detective James Hunter.

The “finesse pimp” is when a pimp meets a young girl at the mall, over the Internet or at school and spoils her with dates, attention and gifts. He makes her fall in love with him, then begins to brainwash her into thinking prostitution is the high-rolling lifestyle of rap videos and fancy clothes.

The “guerrilla pimp” is more violent, when a pimp kidnaps a girl, physically and emotionally abuses her, possibly with help from other men, and then puts her to work on the streets. He threatens more violence if she doesn’t comply.

Pimps tend to target runaways, girls in group homes or those with low self-esteem. They come from all neighborhoods — authorities cited examples of girls recruited from Del Mar and Coronado.

“Pimps are masters at the art of seduction,” said San Diego police Sgt. Bill Woods.

In one recent case, a girl was kidnapped from Washington state and driven to San Diego with four other prostitutes.

Hunter found her on El Cajon Boulevard and was able to rescue her. The pimp and other girls fled to Phoenix.

She had worked so much in her high heels, at the orders of her pimp, that her feet were covered in blisters, Hunter said. He showed photos of the girl’s tortured feet during the presentation, as well as a photo of another girl who suffered third-degree lighter burns on her arm from her pimp.

A new trend that especially troubles Hunter is the use of tattoos to “brand” the women as a pimp’s property. Photos showed how one pimp had his name tattooed in large letters in prominent places on his prostitutes — a reminder to both the girls and other pimps that they belong to him.

The overwhelming driving force behind the trade is money, authorities say.

“Don’t think for a moment that these girls keep a dime of the money they make,” Hunter said. “Every single dollar goes directly to that pimp. It’s all about making the money themselves.”

Authorities say they are seeing more gangs who have historically clashed, such as the Bloods and Crips in the North County, work together as pimping partners simply to earn more cash.

“With guns and narcotics, you get to sell it one time then it’s done,” King said. “With prostitution, your connection to her is a cell phone and you can sell her every day. She’s a constant moneymaker.”

When asked why victims don’t just leave the lifestyle, experts say it’s a complicated mix of shame, fear, intimidation and lack of an outside support system.

Pimps also often move girls from place to place, sometimes from city to city, to keep them disoriented and prevent them from making friends.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob said Tuesday that her eyes were opened to the problem earlier this year during a curfew sweep ridealong. The deputies picked up 30 high-risk youths, the majority of which were young girls selling their bodies for sex, she said.

“We need a full-time regional approach to this issue,” Jacob said.

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Human Trafficking Under-Reported in Australia, Criminologists Say

2010-11-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

10 November 2010
Phil Mercer | Sydney

New research shows the trafficking of workers into Australia is worse than previously thought. A study by the Australian Institute of Criminology delves into a shadowy world where many foreign migrants from Asia and Eastern Europe face abuse and sexual harassment.

Researchers from the Australian Institute of Criminology say there is a large discrepancy between the cases of human trafficking that reach Australia's criminal justice system and the number of crimes being committed against vulnerable migrants.

In a new report, the institute says that human trafficking and the criminal exploitation of foreign workers in Australia is under-reported. Victims come from a range of countries, including China, Thailand and South Korea, while others have traveled from India and Eastern Europe.

The survey states that there are "significant barriers" to reporting labor trafficking. Many migrant workers are afraid to go to the authorities and they face threats from employers.

Fiona David, a trafficking expert at the Australian Institute of Criminology, says it is often hard to tell when an offense has been committed.

"One of the issues with a crime such as labor trafficking is that the area is so gray. The lines between what is bad work and what is criminal exploitation can be very blurry," David says, "There are many ways that people can use those blurring of categories if you like to find ways to exploit people in ways that are very difficult to prove. So, this is a very murky world indeed."

As a result, prosecutions for human trafficking in Australia are rare, and the report says it is not clear how large the problem is. Many abused migrants enter the country legally, only to encounter abuses, such as withheld pay, once they start working. Some workers come to Australia illegally or under false pretenses.

Labor activists say there is a hidden army of foreign workers who are held against their will after being coerced or tricked into traveling to Australia.

The survey focused on industries that rely on manual labor, such as domestic workers, who are seen as particularly vulnerable to exploitation and sexual assault.

The United Nations estimates that human trafficking has become a $30 billion global industry.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Human-Trafficking-Under-Reported-in-Australia-Criminologists-Say-107029523.html

Phl may lose $250-million aid over human trafficking

2010-11-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)
Updated November 11, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Two Mindanao lawmakers warned their colleagues yesterday that the country would lose up to $250 million in aid from the United States unless it makes a serious effort to curb human trafficking.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, who represents the party-list group Abante Mindanao, made the warning in Resolution 560, in which they asked the House to look into cases of human trafficking.

The two said the US “has an anti-human trafficking law that directs the State Department to monitor efforts of every country against trafficking, and from 2009 until now, we have been on the Tier 2 watch list.”

“Under that same law, if a country has been on the Tier 2 watch list for two consecutive years, they are automatically downgraded to Tier 3 in the third year unless there are significant efforts to curb human smuggling,” they said.

They said the US can defer or withhold assistance to any country in the Tier 3 list.

They pointed out that “there are many cases of overseas Filipino workers all over the globe who are victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.”

“The US government is concerned that the Philippines has a high number of human trafficking cases, and yet, they have not heard of a case or cases filed and won against those who had abused the victims,” the Rodriguez brothers said.

They said among the funds that the US could withhold are “those meant for Mindanao.”

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said human smuggling syndicates continue to victimize Filipino workers even after America had expressed its concern over human trafficking.

Just a few days ago, immigration officers stopped three Filipina tourists from boarding their plane for Singapore when they discovered that their real destination was Lebanon, where the deployment of workers is banned, he said.

He added that when brought to the airport immigration office, the alleged tourists admitted that a recruiter deployed them to work in Lebanon.

Rodriguez said shortly after President Aquino appointed Leila de Lima as his justice secretary, she ordered the relief and investigation of several immigration officers at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Angeles City for their alleged involvement in human smuggling.

He said a female officer, who was herself being linked to trafficking, spilled the beans on her colleagues.

He urged De Lima to now reveal the results of the investigation of the immigration personnel posted in Clark.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=628994&publicationSubCategoryId=63

UAE backs UN action plan against human trafficking

2010-11-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

(Wam)
11 November 2010

ABU DHABI — The UAE has voiced its full support for the UN Global Plan of Action to combat human trafficking.

Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Chairman of the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT), said the UAE commended the main features of the international initiative which calls for setting up of a UN voluntary trust fund for victims of trafficking, especially women and children.

The United Nations launched on August 31, 2010 a global action plan to combat human trafficking, urging governments worldwide to take co-coordinated and consistent measures to try to defeat the scourge.

The action plan — which focuses on preventing trafficking, prosecuting offenders and protecting victims — also stresses the importance of obtaining more research, data and analysis about the problem.

Gargash made his remarks during the 23rd meeting of the NCCHT which reviewed the UN plan and a report on the UAE’s participation in the ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking, a coalition of 20 countries, which was held on the sideline of the sideline of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly in New York last September.

Gargash said that the UAE had approved the Group’s plan of action and acceded to its.

Founded in February 2010 as an informal, voluntary and open-ended association of UN Member States, the Group of Friends seeks to help reinvigorate and consolidate the global fight against trafficking in persons.

At the heart of this initiative is to promote the elaboration of a global plan of action against human trafficking, with engagement in this process of such critical stakeholders as civil society, mass media and private businesses.

The Group of Friends seeks to enhance the role of the United Nations in fighting human trafficking and to promote better coordination and cohesiveness of anti-trafficking efforts, including through elaboration and implementation of a global plan of action against trafficking in persons.

The Committee also looked at the recommendations issued by the regional workshop on regional workshop on “Enhancing Law Enforcement and Judicial Co-operation among Source, Transit and Destination Countries in Central Asia to Fight Human Trafficking” which was hosted by Abu Dhabi last October.

The minister said the committee pays proper attention to international reports on human trafficking crimes. A report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography during a visit to the country in October. Gargash termed the report findings as positive.

The committee also discussed a study on introduction of proposed amendments to the Federal Law no 51 of 2006 for combating trafficking in persons. It gave instructions for initiating procedural measures for that purpose.

The committee discussed a number of topics in its agenda including conclusion of memoranda of understanding with Belarus, Thailand and Azerbaijan on cooperation in combating the crime.

The minister appreciated the substantial efforts made by the committee and its stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and shelters during the current year to curb the crime.

The UAE, he affirmed, is committed to meeting its obligations and reaching its targets in the fight against the human trafficking crime as one of the active members in the international community in this regards.

Steps for compiling the annual report on human trafficking in the UAE were also discussed during the meeting. —

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Police, FBI sting finds eight child prostitutes in Kent

2010-11-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

By STEVE HUNTER
KENT REPORTER
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Last updated 9:31 a.m. PT

Eight children ages 13-17 were taken into protective custody Nov. 5-7 in Kent as part of an FBI-organized nationwide sting to recover kids involved in child prostitution.
Kent Police joined with other local and federal law enforcement officers to target the adults and children involved in child sex trafficking and exploitation, according to a Kent Police media release.

Detectives used street contacts as well as the Internet to make contact with the teens. Officers arranged meetings at a variety of locations, including local homes and motels.

Once identified as a child under age 18, police took the teens into protective custody, provided medical assistance and a victim advocate. The children were eventually returned to their family, a guardian or other safe housing arrangements.

Law enforcement officers also arrested several adults in Kent for investigation of prostitution, promoting prostitution and other similar crimes. Kent Police did not have a specific number for the adults arrested, said Sgt. Pat Lowery.

People arrested for trafficking or promoting child prostitution are subject to federal prosecution and if convicted, face a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

Twenty-three child prostitutes were taken off the streets in the Everett, Tacoma and Seattle area, including Kent.

Sixty-nine children were rescued nationwide in 40 cities as part of the three-day Operation Cross County V, according to the FBI.

“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces,” stated Shawn Henry, executive assistant director of the FBI’s criminal, cyber, response, and services branch in an FBI media release. “There is no work more important than protecting America’s children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization. Through our strategic partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, we are able to make a difference."

In the spring of 2003, the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the federal Department of Justice, formed the Innocence Lost National Initiative to address the growing problem of children forced into prostitution.

Kent Police have participated in the crackdown since 2008. Kent has assigned one detective to the group full time.

For more information about Operation Cross Country and the Innocence Lost National Initiative, visit www.fbi.gov.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.seattlepi.com/sound/429933_sound107002393.html

Craigslist says no plans to resume sex ads in the United States

2010-09-23T09:09:00.000-04:00

September 15, 2010
By the CNN Wire Staff

"Today, perpetrators [of sex trafficking] hide behind their computers," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California.Craigslist has "no plans" to resume running adult services ads that contribute to child sex trafficking in the United States, an official with the online advertising site told a House panel Wednesday.

However, the erotic services ads remain available to Americans on the company's foreign sites, including its Canadian site, acknowledged William "Clint" Powell, the director of customer service and law enforcement relations at Craigslist.

Powell's remarks to a House Judiciary subcommittee responded to testimony that the internet has greatly expanded child prostitution and child sex trafficking. In particular, witnesses cited online advertising sites such as Craigslist and backpage.com as facilitating the ability of people to hire child prostitutes.

Respectfully submitted from: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-15/justice/us.child.sex.trafficking_1_craigslist-ceo-jim-buckmaster-services-ads-founder-craig-newmark?_s=PM:CRIME

Teen sues Village Voice Media for abetting sex trafficking

2010-09-23T09:03:00.000-04:00

2010-09-22 18:30:00
A former teen prostitute has sued Village Voice Media for abetting sex trafficking after her ads were posted by her pimp on the company's classified advertisement website.

The 15-year-old, known only as M.A. in the lawsuit, claims that she was forced into prostitution by her pimp Latasha Jewell McFarland when she was 14.

McFarland, who has since pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in a federal court, took pornographic photographs of M.A. and advertised her as a paid escort on Village Voice Media's Backpage.com in 2009 and 2010.

Robert Pedroli, lawyer for the Missouri teen, revealed that the company was an "active participant in a crime which they know is going on but they're failing to investigate because they're making money".

Pedroli said his client is seeking 150,000 dollars for each pornographic photo that was published. Pedroli said there were at least four ads.

Village Voice Media has on the other hand issued a press release slamming Pedroli, calling him an "attorney attempting to milk a tragedy".

"The claim that we knowingly assisted McFarland in committing criminal acts is a lie fabricated by a trial lawyer looking for a payday," the New York Daily News quoted the statement as saying.

It also said that the pimp violated the website's terms of use and that Backpage.com's records even helped convict McFarland, and that the company had previously testified in five underage cases.

"The responsibility, under the law, rests with the person supplying the post," the statement read.

But Pedroli said that by maintaining the forum, Village Voice Media is abetting and aiding sex trafficking, and that the ads have "significantly damaged" his client. (ANI)

Respectfully resubmitted from: http://sify.com/news/teen-sues-village-voice-media-for-abetting-sex-trafficking-news-international-kjws4dfdgbe.html

Man guilty of peddling sex

2010-09-23T08:57:00.000-04:00

By Tom Smith
Senior Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010

HUNTSVILLE - It took a federal jury 25 minutes Wednesday to convict a Florence man in a sex-trafficking case involving a 15-year-old girl.

Zelaya-Rodriguez Manuel Enrique Zelaya-Rodriguez, 31, 233 N. Crown St., was found guilty of trafficking an underage girl for sex and coercing a minor to engage in prostitution.

He also was convicted of harboring an illegal alien and for failing to file a report with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about an illegal alien in his employment.

The case is linked to an ongoing nationwide investigation into human trafficking, FBI agents say.

Zelaya-Rodriguez’s trial began Monday at the federal courthouse in Huntsville.

“This is nothing but modern-day slavery,” U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said. “We must go full speed ahead on these kinds of cases. It’s important we stand up and do the right thing when people are victimized, no matter who they are or where they are from.”

Zelaya-Rodriguez, who also goes by “Mecanico,” has been in federal custody since Sept. 9, 2009. He is accused of arranging sexual encounters for money between men living in the region and the 15-year-old girl, who was brought to the country without proper immigration document. Federal agents said he harbored the girl in Florence and forced her to engage in commercial sex acts between Aug. 25 and Sept. 8, 2009.

Florence police arrested Zelaya-Rodriguez in September 2009 after a traffic stop near a trailer park, which had been a source of complaints and allegations of prostitution, according to testimony. The 15-year-old girl was in the car with Zelaya-Rodriguez and told police he was prostituting her.

Vance commended Florence police in recognizing a potential case of human trafficking and making the arrest.

“The stop here was the result of a police officer who had some good training and put it to good use,” she said.

Florence police originally charged Zelaya-Rodriguez with four counts of first-degree promoting prostitution. After the arrest, the girl was placed in the custody of the Lauderdale County Department of Human Resources.

At the time of Zelaya-Rodriguez’s arrest, the girl told police she received $30 to have sex with the men. She originally told police she was 29 but later admitted she was 15.

Police said it appears Zelaya-Rodriguez scheduled the sexual encounters, took the girl to a designated site, dropped her off and returned later to pick her up.

“We have shut down this particular trafficker and, hopefully, given pause to others who would commit the same morally reprehensible crime,” Vance said. “Human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor is a growing problem in North Alabama and across the country. It’s a grave concern of the Department of Justice. We want a zero-tolerance policy on this crime.”

Agents in the Florence FBI office and ICE agents led the federal investigation of the case, Vance said.

Vance said it is important that people realize these cases exist in Alabama.

“This is not just happening to illegal immigrants, but it happens to runaway girls and others who are victims of kidnapping,” she said. “People keep their heads in the sand and think not in Alabama. A big part of our goal is to give the public the knowledge that this is going on.

“I can’t began to imagine what this child went through. I don’t want to see this happen to any child.”

Officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Zelaya-Rodriguez faces a minimum 10-year prison sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately set, and Zelaya-Rodriguez will remain in custody.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100923/NEWS/100929942/0/news50

The Body Shop Says: Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People

2010-09-23T08:48:00.000-04:00

By Lisa Germinsky
Thursday, September 23, 2010 5:30 AM ET

Help these purveyors of beauty eradicate one of the world's ugliest crimes.

Warning: this is not going to be pretty. Every year 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex. In the United States alone, over 200,000 children will be involved in commercial sexual exploitation. Those are just estimates — the true numbers are likely higher. It's an ugly issue that one beauty company is determined to eradicate.

This week at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, Tonic had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Kowalcyk, president of The Body Shop North America. He brought us up to speed on the Commitment that the socially-conscious beauty giant accepted in partnership with ECPAT, "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People."

The three-year initiative, valued at $11.5 million, boasts a two-fold mission: first, to raise funds for intervention and rescue from trafficking; and second, to inspire long-term change. The current initial phase of raising money and gathering names for a petition will continue until the end of 2011. They will then present the millions of signatures to lawmakers and leaders around the globe, appealing for better legislation, awareness and prevention of child sex trafficking. Currently they have secured 2,640,040 million signatures. Since launching the US arm of the campaign in August, they've collected a remarkable 500,000.

"It has the potential to break your heart, until you realize, this can change," Kowalcyk tells Tonic. He continues, "Earlier today someone said, 'Intellectually you can almost understand poverty, violence, the spread of HIV/AIDs, but you can't understand taking advantage of children.'"

And things are changing. Organizations such as the Somaly Mam Foundation are doing courageous work and making remarkable strides in liberating victims and empowering survivors. A survivor herself, Mam, was born into poverty and sold into the sex trade as a young girl by a man who posed as her grandfather. Mam has made it her life's work to eradicate the possibility that others will share her fate. The nonprofit has successfully touched the lives of over 6,000 children through rescue and recovery, education and reintegration.

Westerners no longer have the luxury of thinking this is a faraway problem in the developing world. This year, upwards of 300,000 children will be exploited by the sex industry across all 50 states. With the exception of New York, Washington and Connecticut, children picked up for prostitution can be arrested and prosecuted in the US. To make matters worse, only three shelters exist for the nearly 300,000 children involved in sex trafficking. Activists and lawmakers are working diligently to create safe harbors around the nation.

Tonic asked Kowalcyk what people can do to help and he offered up three very specific, simple actions:

Sign the petition online or in any Body Shop location.
Learn these two facts and share them: 1. Sex trafficking is the third highest crime in the world behind drugs and firearms. 2. 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex every year.
Purchase products from The Body Shop. Either, the Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream, of which 100% net proceeds go to ECPAT, or the Stop Sex Trafficking Bag for Life, of which 100% of net proceeds go to Somaly Mam.

It should be noted that The Body Shop is not one of those global corporations who recently got hip to the importance of social action — you'll never catch them tagging a random cause marketing campaign onto the launch of the latest Body Butter scent. This beauty brand was born to do good. It's an inside-out kind of thing.

Dame Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976 on the principle that businesses have the power to do good. An activist herself, Roddick believed that by creating a product that inherently makes a difference in the world, she could enable consumers to become activists by making a simple purchase. According to the company website Roddick once said, "Activism isn't listed on The Body Shop® labels as an ingredient, but it is there as surely as the bergamot and hemp oil."

If she were alive today, Dame Roddick would surely be proud of her legacy.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.tonic.com/article/the-body-shop/

Child Sex Trafficking: A Resource List to Help

2010-09-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

About 200,000 U.S. Children at Risk of Being Trafficked Each Year; Here's How to Help
By JESSICA HOPPER
Sept. 22, 2010
Portland is often voted one of the most livable places in the country but, police say, the Oregon city hides another distinction: It has become a national hub for child sex trafficking.

Oregon police believe more than 100 underage girls are being deployed to hotel rooms, sent to work on the streets and dance in the strip-clubs.

They are a few of the nearly 200,000 U.S. children at high risk for being trafficked into the sex industry each year, according to the anti-trafficking organization Polaris Project. The average age of entry into prostitution is between 12 and 13, the project says.

If you are a victim of trafficking or want to help those who are, here are some resources:

Polaris Project: This national organization works at the international, national and local levels to combat trafficking. It trains leaders on how to combat trafficking and even writes policy aimed at curbing what it calls the second largest crime in the world.

National Human Trafficking Resource Hotline: This hotline allows you to report a tip if you think that trafficking has occurred in your neighborhood. If you are a victim of trafficking, the hotline will connect you to help in your area. You can also call and receive information about trafficking and where to go to train in counter-trafficking.

Department of Homeland Security: This government agency has a link to a state and local database of anti-trafficking groups. There is also information regarding immigration status if you are undocumented and a victim of trafficking. Concerned citizens can click on this link to request assistance for child victims of trafficking.

The U.S. Department of Education: This federal agency has a sheet for schools and educators with signs that a student might have been lured or forced into sex trafficking. Among the things to look for: long, unexplained absences from school, or a student is constantly running away or wearing inappropriate attire based on the weather conditions.

The Child Rescue Association of North America: This non-profit organization works to stop child sex trafficking in the United States and Canada. You can join a local chapter or donate to the organization. They also have a link to several resources nationwide.

The GEMS Council of Daughters: This is a national branch of the New York based GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, an organization helping girls working in the sex industry. The GEMS Council of Daughters hosts fundraisers and training sessions in counter-trafficking.

The National Runaway Switchboard: This hotline allows runaways to call for help. Experts say that running away can be a gateway to children being forced into sex work.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: This national organization famous for issuing Amber Alerts for missing children also focuses on the sexual exploitation of children. It has a cyber tip line that allows you to report possible instances of child exploitation.

The Body Shop's Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Petition: This campaign launched by the Body Shop asks customers in stores or online to sign a petition protecting victims of sex trafficking from being arrested and prosecuted for prostitution.

Respectfully submitted from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/child-sex-trafficking-resources-victims/story?id=11700413&page=1

Recently-Freed Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein May Face Child Trafficking Charges

2010-07-30T20:18:00.000-04:00

Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire Bill Clinton pal who just left jail after completing a sentence for soliciting sex with a minor, may be headed back soon: The Daily Beast reports that the Justice Department is investigating him for child trafficking.

Epstein, famous for being rich, being friends with Bill Clinton, having an egg-shaped penis, and being a vindictive pervert, can't be prosecuted again for the charges he copped to in his plea deal. But according to The Daily Beast's Conchita Sarnoff, new charges might be coming:

Federal investigators continue to investigate Epstein's activities, to see whether there is evidence of child trafficking-a far more serious charge than the two in his non-prosecution agreement, the arrangement between Epstein and the Department of Justice allowing him to plead guilty to lower-level state crimes. Trafficking can carry a 20-year sentence.

Since there's no statute of limitations for sex-trafficking, and Epstein's predatory adventures apparently date back more than a few years, it's likely there's more women who could come forward. (Apparently some have contacted a lawyer, but nothing's been filed yet.)

It's not just Epstein, either—his buddy Jean Luc Brunel, head of the MC2 modeling agency, is also being investigated, and some of the models he represented (many from overseas) may have been enlisted as companions on Epstein's private jet.

Respectfully submitted from: http://gawker.com/5600294/recently+freed-sex-offender-jeffrey-epstein-may-face-child-trafficking-charges

YWCA gets federal funds to shelter sex trafficking victims

2010-07-30T19:56:00.000-04:00

Sen. Wyden and others will announce the $900,000 grant on Saturday
By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Jul 29, 2010
The YWCA of Greater Portland will use $900,000 in federal money to help establish a shelter for victims of human sex trafficking, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden plans to announce in Portland on Saturday.

The funds come after a U.S. Department of Justice study ranked Portland and Seattle among 12 hub cities where traffickers recruit teenagers for sex work and move them around the country.

“One of the problems police have is these girls, when they’re arrested or turn themselves in or want to get out of the life, they have no place to go,” says Tom Towslee, a spokesman for Wyden. “It takes time for police to develop the evidence and case they need against the traffickers. With no place to go, all too often they end up going back into the shadows and often return to the men who abused them in the first place.

“These women are not criminals. They need someplace they can be safe, not in a jail, and can get services like counseling, which they need to turn their lives around.”

Saltzman efforts
The YWCA initiative is just one of a few underway to help get sex trafficking victims and prostitutes off the street and into safe houses.

Wyden’s office is also co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would bring a federal grant of $2.5 million per year for three years, to create six safe houses around the country for girls 12 to 18 years old. Towslee says that Wyden hopes Portland would receive one of those grants, since it is recognized as a major hub for underage sex trafficking. The funds would support a safe house as well as boost law enforcement resources toward combating the crime.

The third effort under way is led by City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who is working on a pilot program that would begin this fall. The program would place women seeking to escape their life on the street into private-market units around the city, rather than in one central “safe house.”

Offering support
The nonprofit Join, which already works with the city’s housing efforts, uses a “housing-first” model that places people in housing and then gives them the social, financial and other support they need to maintain that housing. Join will provide the up-front rent and moving costs, work with the landlord and supply other help as needed.

LifeWorks Northwest, the nonprofit treatment center that already provides many services to these women, will supply the counseling, addiction treatment, employment assistance and any other help they may need.

If the woman relapses and returns to the street for a short time, she will not lose their housing, since that’s one of the philosophies of the housing-first model, says Amy Trieu, a policy coordinator for Saltzman: “The purpose is to build that trust.”

The city plans to start with a small group of four to six women this fall, then expand later.

Wyden will announce the funds for the YWCA at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the facility, 1111 S.W. 10th Ave. Other leaders joining him include Saltzman, County Commissioner Diane McKeel, State Rep. Carolyn Tomei and Eric Brown, executive director of the YWCA of Greater Portland

Respectfully submitted from: http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=128044540611027200

Portland's dark world of child sex trafficking

2010-07-29T14:06:00.000-04:00

By Michal Elseth - The Washington Times
7:46 p.m., Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Portland, Ore., is widely featured as a young, green, hip city; it also has gained a reputation as a national hub for child sex trafficking.

State police report encountering three to five trafficking victims a week. Although the Sexual Assault Resource Center, an advocacy group that offers services to Portland-area victims, estimates that it handled 75 cases in 2009, it also says that for every girl in its system 10 more are still being exploited.

"I just believe with my whole heart that people across the community would be appalled if they knew what was going on," said Sgt. Mike Geiger, who heads Portland's sexual assault detail.

Portland's legal commercial sex industry is the biggest per capita in the country, according to a report by researchers at Willamette Law School's International Human Rights Clinic. Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather once called the city "Pornland." The city has more strip clubs per capita than glittery Las Vegas, and a tolerant attitude toward sex, both legal and illegal.

Combining those facts, a demand for sex workers, the city's geography that provides easy access for traffickers, and its reputation as a progressive youth-oriented community attracting runaways creates a toxic brew rivaling the notorious red-light district of Amsterdam.

"It's nonstop. It's every day," said Sgt. Doug Justus of the Portland Police Department's vice squad.

Victims of domestic minor sex trafficking have been picked up in every major city in the country and in many rural areas as well. Those "walking the track" on Portland's 82nd Avenue are often children exploited in their hometown.

Linda Smith, president of Shared Hope International, a Vancouver, Wash.-based advocacy group, calls Portland a "mecca" for underage trafficking. Of the domestic minors trafficked every year in the U.S. — the FBI estimates 300,000, the majority being runaway or "throwaway" children — hundreds are being sexually exploited in a city of 600,000.

Recent FBI stings gave Portland its much-disputed rating as second in the U.S. for domestic minor sex trafficking.

Of the 52 children rescued from 36 cities in the FBI's Operation Cross Country IV in October, four were from Portland. Portland participated in the sting for only one night; the stings in the other 35 cities lasted several days. Operation Cross Country III, in February 2009, rescued seven underage girls in Portland, out of 48 total minors rescued. The only city with more underage victims rescued in either sting was Seattle.

Far from dismissing the ranking because of the sting's brief nature, researchers at Willamette's human rights clinic estimated in a report released July 12 that Portland's trafficking rate may be even higher.

"It is possible that Portland in fact ranks higher on the list for trafficking but because its participation in the sting lasted only one night, this cannot be confirmed," it said.

"If you look back about 16 months, I was one of those people who thought it went on elsewhere," said City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. "I think what we're seeing is an increase of trafficking in Portland, but it comes with an awareness that this is happening in our own city, and not Eastern Europe or Asia."

Portland's legal commercial sex trade, tolerant attitude and lack of zoning laws make the city an origin and a destination for sex traffickers.

While Seattle has four strip clubs, and Dallas, another trafficking hot spot, has three, Portland has more than 50 all-nude strip clubs within city limits. One directory lists 40 erotic dance clubs, 47 all-nude strip clubs, 35 adult businesses and 21 lingerie modeling shops.

Many of these, though legal, are also fronts for underage exploitation. Shared Hope estimates that the average age of minors used as prostitutes in the U.S. is 13.

"More and more, the people looking to buy sex are looking for younger and younger kids," said Janice Crouse, president of Concerned Women for America.

Elesia Lopez is a survivor of the child sex-trafficking system in Portland.

Her mother was a prostitute who ran a "massage parlor," a front for illegal sex trade. At Elesia's 13th birthday party, her mother sold her to a man for $5,000 to feed a drug habit. Elesia was given to the man as his personal sex slave.

"He took what he thought he owned and raped me multiple times," Miss Lopez said.
She escaped, pregnant and scared. She gave up her baby for adoption and spent time in foster care before running away again. This time she was on the streets, and after eight months at a shelter for the homeless, she was recruited by her first pimp.

They traveled along the West Coast corridor, with her pimp making a rich profit off of her in Anaheim, Calif., Portland and Seattle. She wanted to escape, but she knew he would kill her if she left.

When she became pregnant again at 15, with twins, she knew she had to escape. After running again, she was stopped by a police officer who asked her what she was doing on the street.

"I really don't know what I'm doing," she told him.

It was a turning point in her life: She had grown up in a world where it was normal to be a prostitute or a pimp, but she finally realized that she had to try to leave it behind forever.

"I had to get to that point where I was pregnant and I didn't want my baby to die — this was another human life," she said.

The policeman helped get her case to court, but without secure shelter, she was still on her own. One night during the trial, her pimp found her and beat her with a baseball bat. She was 6½ months pregnant. One of her babies died; the other was born three weeks later.

Her pimp was caught and convicted, and Miss Lopez left the world of prostitution. Today she is an advocate for the Sexual Assault Resource Center, where she helps rescue girls from the streets.

"God works good out of all of this," she said.

Stopping child sex trafficking is particularly difficult in Portland.

The port city's easy access from two major highways makes it an obvious hub for the Interstate 5 corridor, a common trafficking route that stretches from California to Washington state. This leads traffickers to Portland's many homeless children and runaways, one-fourth to one-third of whom are solicited by pimps within 48 hours of being on the street. Underage victims often are listed online, making them vulnerable to an even wider market.

Washington state's stronger laws and stricter penalties have forced many pimps from the Seattle area into Portland as well, but with only two vice detectives, the Portland Police Department's ability to crack down is limited.

Sgt. Justus said the tiny size of the force is a serious problem. Seattle has two shifts of four vice detectives each, and cities such as Las Vegas have far more. Although city government has become aware of the deficiency, nothing has been done to strengthen police department's vice squad.

The most prohibitive factor is the lack of secure shelters for victims. Far from being unique to Portland, the deficiency is nationwide. Fewer than 100 shelter beds are available in the U.S. for trafficking victims, and most other facilities are not appropriate to their needs.

Like Elesia, children remain in danger during trials — if they stay on the radar long enough to reach that point. Many run back to the street or are found by their pimps.

"My evidence runs away," Sgt. Geiger said.

These children, he said, often immediately re-enter the business. Sgt. Geiger, Mr. Saltzman and others in Portland are formulating a plan for a shelter and doing what they can to stop the cycle.

A pilot program is under way in Portland, where Multnomah County organizations will experiment with providing for victims' rent in existing housing and offering the specific counseling services that victims of trafficking need.

The overwhelming input from these teens is that they need healing as victims instead of treatment as the criminals they have been told they are.

"Their bodies may be grown up, they may be grown up in some ways because they understand things they shouldn't," Sgt. Geiger said, "but what I hear screaming out to me is, these are children."

Respectfully submitted from:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/28/portlands-dark-world-of-child-sex-trafficking/?page=1

Arrest made in botched Boulevard abduction

2010-07-29T09:21:00.001-04:00

by Graeme Moore
Posted: 07.28.2010 at 12:43 PM

Myrtle Beach Police arrested a McClellanville man wanted in connection to a kidnapping attempt a week ago in Myrtle Beach -- a case that has eery similarities to that of missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel.

Shaun Taylor, 37, turned himself in Wednesday morning to face charges of attempted kidnapping and first degree assault. An arrest warrant was obtained Monday, and despite two days of searching, detectives were unable to locate Taylor.

Taylor has been booked at the Myrtle Beach jail and is awaiting a bond hearing.

On July 21, a Tennessee woman reported to police that three men in a van approached her on Ocean Boulevard and tried to kidnap her.

According to the police report, Randa Massey, 20, was walking on Ocean Boulevard near the BlueWater Resort around 4:30 p.m. when she heard what sounded like a van "creep up behind her."

Massey told police two men jumped from the van and tried to pull her into the van, but when she elbowed one of them in the face, she broke free.

She told police a third man waited in the van as a get-away driver.

On Monday, detectives from Myrtle Beach and other assisting law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at Taylor's home on Old Collins Creek Road in Charleston County, near the Georgetown County line.

Police seized several items, including what was presumed to be a stolen truck which has been linked to a homicide in Charleston County, NewsChannel 15 has confirmed.

The suspect van, described as pale blue, that was used in the botched kidnapping was not recovered, according to authorities.

Police say Massey picked Shaun Taylor out of lineup, and police continue to seek information about the two additional men.

As Taylor turned himself in Wednesday morning, Taylor said he said he didn't have much to say.

The following is part of the exchange between this reporter and Taylor as he made his way into the jail. The questions are italicized.

Do you have any comment on the charges you face?

"Nah, not really. I mean it's not me."

Why do you say it's not you?

"because it's not me."

Why do you think they say it's you?

"I'm not sure, but talk to you later. I got to go."

Do you have any idea who might have done this?

"I'm not even from around this area."

The abduction attempt to which police have linked Taylor happened in front of the same hotel where missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel was last seen on April 25, 2009.

Police have not confirmed a definite link between the two cases, but the same multi-jurisdictional task force created for the Drexel case is also investigating the attempted abduction.

Drexel, then 17 years old and from Rochester, NY, disappeared from Ocean Boulevard around 9:00 p.m. that April night, but she has never been found.

This past April, detectives confirmed they had developed several persons of interest in Drexel's case. All of the persons of interest are from the McClellanville area, though no arrests have been made.

Drexel's cell phone signals were tracked to that area the night she went missing, but her phone has not been recovered. It gave off its last known signal around midnight on April 25, and it pinged from a tower in McClellanville.

While Shaun Taylor wasn't named an official person of interest in Drexel's case, detectives interviewed him and showed strong interest in him during the early stages of the investigation -- which may explain why detectives returned to him and McClellanville after last week's failed abduction.

Again, this reporter asked Taylor about any knowledge of the Drexel case. Here's the following exchange:

Do you know anything about the Brittanee Drexel case?

"Nothing about that."

Do you know that name?

"I see it on TV a lot."

Do you have any idea who might have been involved in that?

"No, I don't."

Were you involved with Brittanee Drexel's disappearance?

"No, I wasn't."

TAYLOR'S BACKGROUND

Taylor's recent charges are merely two of many he's faced since the early 1990s, and while he has not been convicted of anything in connection with the abductions, he does have a list of other convictions.

Since 1994, Taylor has been convicted of nearly 30 offenses in Georgetown and Charleston counties.

Taylor was convicted of driving under suspension and giving false information to police in Georgetown County in 1994.

Two years later, in 1996, he was convicted of disorderly conduct, also in Georgetown County. Then in 1998, Taylor was charged and convicted in Charleston County for failing to stop for blue lights and also for criminal domestic violence.

The following year he was found guilty of driving under the influence and, again, driving under suspension in Charleston County.

In 2001, he was convicted of failing to pay child support in Charleston County. In 2005, Taylor was found guilty for another driving under suspension charge.

In between 2001 and 2009, he was convicted of 17 different contempt of court charges.

OTHER CASES GET SECOND LOOK

In February 2001, Shaun Taylor's brother, Randall Keith Taylor, was one of five men arrested and charged in connection to the death of a missing 19-year-old from St. Stephen, SC.

According to The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC, Shannon McConaughey was last seen leaving the Cracker Barrel in North Charleston on Jan. 29, 1998.

Her car was found burned in some woods near Awendaw two weeks later, and her body was found in March of that year in some woods near McClellanville.

Eventually, the charges were dismissed against Taylor and the other men because of what defense attorneys described as a lack of evidence.

Sources on the Drexel case have also raised eyebrows at the mention of a fourth woman, Crystal Gail Soles, who vanished just miles from the McClellanville area in 2005. Soles was last seen leaving Shaw's Corner store near Andrews, and officials think she was abducted.

"There are just too many young, white girls going missing (with a connection to that area)," one source close to the case said.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=488808
(video also at this site and unable to copy to blog)

Malaysia triples jail time, boosts fines for people smugglers to stem migrant exploitation

2010-07-29T08:31:00.000-04:00

By Julia Zappei (CP) – 6 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia is tripling prison sentences and imposing stiff fines for people smugglers, but activists warned Thursday that more measures were needed to stem the exploitation of migrant labourers.

Parliament's upper house is expected to approve changes to strengthen laws against human trafficking next week, a Parliament official said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol. The amendments were passed by Parliament's lower house earlier this month, and the senate's approval will enable them to be enforced.

Malaysia has become a magnet for people from impoverished or war-torn places looking for work here illegally or seeking a transit point to sneak into other nations, especially Australia.

Officials say these people sometimes fall prey to forced labour and sexual exploitation by human trafficking networks. The government says it has rescued more than 1,200 such victims since 2008 and brought 155 cases before the courts. Nine people have been convicted so far for people smuggling.

The changes to the law effectively triple the maximum prison sentence for offenders who help foreigners enter or leave Malaysia without valid travel documents to 15 years. If the migrants are exploited, treated cruelly or placed in danger, the penalty can be as high as 20 years in prison.

The maximum fine for human trafficking will be increased by 10 times to 1 million ringgit ($310,000). Those convicted will also have to pay the government all the profits they made and fork out the cost of hosting and deporting the migrants.

The changes are also expected to make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions.

Nora Murat, director of human rights group Amnesty International's Malaysian chapter, said authorities should also provide victims of people smuggling with better legal assistance and counselling to build strong cases against traffickers.

"The problem is the support system for the act is not there," Murat said, noting that there are insufficient government-supported shelters for human trafficking victims. Most are held at a shelter in a detention centre for illegal immigrants, and activists fear they might not co-operate with authorities if they face ill treatment.

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Sex Trafficking of Mentally Disabled Girl Puts Focus on Illegal Immigrants and Crime

2010-07-29T07:27:00.000-04:00

Immigration Critics Call Florida Case Consequence of 'Broken Borders'

By DEVIN DWYER
July 28, 2010

Mario Laguna-Guerrero had been dating his 17-year-old girlfriend for two years and even lived with her and her mother before he made a decision that would change their relationship forever.

Laguna, struggling to repay a debt to smugglers who brought him into the country from Mexico, decided to become a pimp -- driving his girlfriend to migrant labor camps in Hillsborough County, Florida, and selling her for sex.

Over four months in late 2009, as many as 80 men slept with the teenage girl while Laguna pocketed $25 a head. He later pressured his girlfriend to recruit high school classmates to work as prostitutes too.

Law enforcement agents arrested Laguna in April and charged him with sex trafficking of a minor, a federal crime.

According to the affidavit, Laguna, 25, said his girlfriend, who's a U.S. citizen, agreed to help him pay off his debt by having sex for cash. But the girl, who has a mental disability and is only identified as "Victim #1," told detectives separately, "I don't wanna do this."

Investigators determined Victim #1 has an IQ of 58, which psychologists described to ABC News as "low-functioning," adding that she would have difficulties making decisions on her own.

"This girl was rescued from a nightmare which could only have gotten worse," said Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee.

As national debate rages over ties between illegal immigration and crime, the Laguna-Guerrero case depicts a disturbing trend in human sex trafficking and, some immigration critics say, a consequence of the U.S. failure to secure its borders.

"This is a heinous crime, there are real victims left in its wake, and it's all unnecessary," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform. "It could have been prevented if he weren't here illegally... Legal immigrants go through a vetting process that's designed to weed out criminals."

Laguna, who worked as a strawberry picker on a farm near Tampa, first arrived in the U.S. in 2002. He told investigators the smugglers who brought him into the country threatened to cut off his fingers if he did not soon pay his $2,000 debt.

While Mehlman praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for uncovering the case and prosecuting the "most egregious" crimes perpetrated by immigrants, he said more must be done to curb the "disproportionate" criminal activity of those in the U.S. illegally.

Are Immigrants Disproportionately Criminals?
Illegal immigrants make up about 3 percent of the U.S. population, according to Census statistics. "Criminal aliens" make up about 27 percent of inmates in federal prisons, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report.

But immigration advocates say focusing on the share of inmates in federal prison and on cases like Laguna's can be highly misleading and downright wrong.

"Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens," said Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council.

Johnson said the share of immigrants in federal prisons may seem alarming but that only 8 percent of all U.S. prisoners are in such facilities. Most are in state and local prisons, where incarceration rates for immigrants are lower than average.

He also pointed out that many immigrants in the federal system may simply be there because they lack legal immigration status -- not for having committed flagrant criminal offenses.

"No community is immune from the ravages of drugs and sexual violence. But the overwhelming majority of those crimes are not done by immigrants," Johnson said. "We don't ask criminals about their political affiliation or their religion. So why should we focus on their immigration status?"

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials say they continue to prosecute crimes committed by immigrants, including cases of sex trafficking. The agency investigated 557 sex trafficking cases between 2005 and 2007 and convicted 129 offenders, according to the most recent data.

Sex trafficking, or the recruitment, transportation and use of another person for the purpose of trading sex for money, has become an alarming trend in recent years.

An estimated 240,000 American children are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation with the average age of first-time prostitutes ranging from 12 to 14, according to a recent Justice Department study.

Laguna-Guerrero, who allegedly began trafficking his girlfriend when she was 16, currently faces a trial in U.S. Federal District Court. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

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Myrtle Beach Police investigate attempted abduction

2010-07-22T17:47:00.000-04:00

by Continuous News Desk

Myrtle Beach Police say a 20-year-old woman from Kingsport, Tennessee was almost abducted.

It happened about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of the Blue Water Resort. That's the last place Brittanee Drexel of New York was last seen more than a year ago.

Police say the woman is working with the State Law Enforcement Division to create composite sketches of the suspects.

She told police three black men pulled up in a work van. The van is described as light blue, with a sliding side door and a lot of rust. It could be a late 80's model.

Police say the location of the attempted abduction piques their interest. They say both cases are very high profile.

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