SPOTLIGHT CASE Human Trafficking Awareness Thread

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Press conference held at New Orleans City Hall today.

Law enforcement takes new tactic in prostitution enforcement operation

Posted on February 1, 2017 at 6:40 PM
By Kevin Litten, NOLA.com

Authorities on Wednesday (Feb. 1) announced they had made contact with 11 women who were engaging in prostitution, some of whom are suspected of being coerced into the trade by pimps. FBI officials described the operation as a "rescue," saying that none of the women were arrested as part of the effort.

The decision not to arrest the women is rooted in a new approach authorities are taking in dealing with the human trafficking problem. Women who are engaging in prostitution are increasingly being seen as potential human trafficking victims under the control of a pimp, and the FBI acknowledged that police are using the contacts to catch perpetrators who are seeking to recruit women and force them to have sex for money.

"We have a priority to rescue victims, but I also want to make clear to the people that are coming in here, that are victimizing them and victimizing different people, we will arrest you," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallet. Asked whether the FBI developed information from making contact with the victims and will use it to arrest human traffickers, Sallet said, "in this case, any information we collected in the future could certainly be used for prosecutions. We're not looking to prosecute the victims. We're looking to prosecute the victimizers."

much more at the link
 
FBI: Human trafficking victims rescued
Feb 1, 2017 06:31 PM

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) - A joint operation between FBI agents and local law enforcement rescued 11 women from people investigators call human traffickers. All of the victims were found in New Orleans. None of them was a minor.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallett suspects more traffickers are moving into the region, hoping to cash in on large crowds expected for Mardi Gras and the NBA All Star Game.


FBI, local officials put pimps on notice for Mardi Gras, NBA All-Star events

Posted 9:32 PM, February 1, 2017, by WGNO Web Desk

[...]

Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the city always sees an increase in human trafficking during big events.

"This is not going to be a safe haven during the All-Star Game nor Mardi Gras," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallet. "If you are a pimp, a human trafficker, do not come to New Orleans during Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, or for that matter any time of the year."

The FBI New Orleans Human Trafficking operation, although local and smaller in size, is very similar to the FBI’s nationwide operation dubbed “Operation Cross Country,” which identifies pimps and traffickers during large-scale events and sporting events, the FBI said.

"Many times, the women are held against their will, forced into a life of prostitution, housed in less than humane conditions, and tortured if they don’t 'earn' enough money to satisfy their pimps or traffickers," according to the FBI.
 
bessie said:
FBI: Human trafficking victims rescued
Feb 1, 2017 06:31 PM

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) - A joint operation between FBI agents and local law enforcement rescued 11 women from people investigators call human traffickers. All of the victims were found in New Orleans. None of them was a minor.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallett suspects more traffickers are moving into the region, hoping to cash in on large crowds expected for Mardi Gras and the NBA All Star Game.


FBI, local officials put pimps on notice for Mardi Gras, NBA All-Star events

Posted 9:32 PM, February 1, 2017, by WGNO Web Desk

[...]

Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the city always sees an increase in human trafficking during big events.

"This is not going to be a safe haven during the All-Star Game nor Mardi Gras," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallet. "If you are a pimp, a human trafficker, do not come to New Orleans during Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, or for that matter any time of the year."

The FBI New Orleans Human Trafficking operation, although local and smaller in size, is very similar to the FBI’s nationwide operation dubbed “Operation Cross Country,” which identifies pimps and traffickers during large-scale events and sporting events, the FBI said.

"Many times, the women are held against their will, forced into a life of prostitution, housed in less than humane conditions, and tortured if they don’t 'earn' enough money to satisfy their pimps or traffickers," according to the FBI.
Click to expand...
bessie - Your posts just gave me some real hope for these women.

NOLA is taking a brave and giant step forward. I hope they have a plan in place for assisting these women to find a new start and another avenue of income. And I hope other cities will soon follow suit.
 
kanzz said:
bessie - Your posts just gave me some real hope for these women.

NOLA is taking a brave and giant step forward. I hope they have a plan in place for assisting these women to find a new start and another avenue of income. And I hope other cities will soon follow suit.
Click to expand...
(rbbm)

I couldn't agree more!

For adult women, the answer is Eden House.

The mission of Eden House is to end human and sex trafficking one woman at a time. Eden House empowers women to transform their lives through the healing power of life in community. We do this by providing a safe home, coordinating recovery services, and through advocacy, outreach, education, and love.
http://www.edenhousenola.org/

Founded in 2011, Eden House is the only social service organization in New Orleans and the state of Louisiana that serves victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, and provides outreach and education on these issues. Eden House offers a two-year residential program to victims consisting of a holistic approach to recovery including outreach, housing, food, mental and physical health care, job training, education, legal services, and spiritual support. In addition to providing client services, Eden House also provides public policy support, advocacy services, and education. Our goal is to provide comprehensive recovery for our survivors which treats not just the symptoms of a life of exploitation, but creates a foundation of skills that facilitate the victim’s ability to move forward with her life.
http://www.loyno.edu/engage/eden-house

https://m.facebook.com/EdenHouseNOLA/
 
bessie said:
(rbbm)

I couldn't agree more!

For adult women, the answer is Eden House.

The mission of Eden House is to end human and sex trafficking one woman at a time. Eden House empowers women to transform their lives through the healing power of life in community. We do this by providing a safe home, coordinating recovery services, and through advocacy, outreach, education, and love.
http://www.edenhousenola.org/

Founded in 2011, Eden House is the only social service organization in New Orleans and the state of Louisiana that serves victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, and provides outreach and education on these issues. Eden House offers a two-year residential program to victims consisting of a holistic approach to recovery including outreach, housing, food, mental and physical health care, job training, education, legal services, and spiritual support. In addition to providing client services, Eden House also provides public policy support, advocacy services, and education. Our goal is to provide comprehensive recovery for our survivors which treats not just the symptoms of a life of exploitation, but creates a foundation of skills that facilitate the victim’s ability to move forward with her life.
http://www.loyno.edu/engage/eden-house

https://m.facebook.com/EdenHouseNOLA/
Click to expand...

All of this is truly heartwarming. At a time when so much of what is going on all around us is so very difficult to handle, this is welcome news indeed!

:thumb:
 
FULL HEARING: Ashton Kutcher testifies @ Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. hearing on Human Trafficking

[video=youtube;V0e-y2qrneA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0e-y2qrneA[/video]
 
FBI rescues 82 children in sex trafficking sweep; 15 arrested in Philly area

"...Eighty-two minors were rescued and 239 alleged traffickers and their associates were arrested as part of this year's Operation Cross Country, an annual international crimefighting effort, according to the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children..."
 
TedMac said:
FBI rescues 82 children in sex trafficking sweep; 15 arrested in Philly area

"...Eighty-two minors were rescued and 239 alleged traffickers and their associates were arrested as part of this year's Operation Cross Country, an annual international crimefighting effort, according to the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children..."
Click to expand...

For the first time, countries around the world participated in the investigation with several dozen operations across Canada, and about 10 operations in six cities across Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines joining national law enforcement agencies, an FBI statement on the investigation noted.

FBI officials shared this video of a Michigan woman who was rescued from human sex trafficking

http://www.phillyvoice.com/fbi-rescues-82-children-worldwide-child-sex-sweep/
 
Motel Turned Blind Eye To Child Sex Traffickers For Profit, Suit Claims

A motel accused of looking the other way as children were shuffled in and out of its rooms for sexual exploitation is facing what may be the first lawsuit of its kind under a Pennsylvania statute.


In the lawsuit, filed Friday, a now 17-year-old girl accuses Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Inn of knowingly providing rooms to human traffickers over a near two-year period starting in 2013 for its own financial gain.
 
http://keyetv.com/news/local/eight-nabbed-in-local-human-trafficking-ring

TxDPS busts human trafficking ring, 8 arrested, 1 on the run

SAN ANTONIO — The Texas Department of Public Safety announced the arrest of eight people in what they described as a human trafficking ring.
According to a release sent out Wednesday, the multi-agency investigation spanned four months and yielded eight arrests with various charges.
“Law enforcement plays a critical role in community safety and protecting Texans from criminals who profit off exploiting others,” said DPS Regional Commander Freeman Martin . “I am very proud of our investigative division and their efforts to protect victims from human trafficking – which endangers children as well as adults.”
 
Includes videos.rbbm.
https://crimewatchdaily.com/2017/05...investigates-sex-trafficking-epidemic-in-u-s/
The average age of trafficking victims entering the sex trade world is 13 years old.

According to Mary Mazzio's documentary I Am Jane Doe, there are more than 1.6 million homeless or runaway kids on the streets of America, and up to 15 percent of them have fallen victim to sex-trafficking.
"That's hundreds of thousands of children every day, and that's only the homeless and runaway population," said Mazzio.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN LOS ANGELES
Crime Watch Daily rode along with a group of undercover deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department as they busted men looking to hook up with underage girls.
Click to expand...
TRAFFICKING DELUNA

Much like the heroin epidemic we are now facing, sex-trafficking is a massive problem in the United States.
These are not just women being brought in from other countries. We're talking about teens, or even younger, being recruited from middle schools and high schools in just about every city in America.
Click to expand...
 
WCPO_Bryan_Otero_Eric_Ho_1493852755477_59099282_ver1.0_640_480.png

CINCINNATI -- Two men face federal sex charges, accused of holding a 14-year-old girl in a Clermont County apartment so they could use her for child *advertiser censored*.

Eric Zyn Ho, 25, and Bryan Mathew Otero, 27, are charged with conspiracy to sex traffic children and conspiracy to produce child *advertiser censored*. A federal grand jury returned the indictment last week, alleging they'd conspired to keep the girl and have her to engage in a commercial sex act. Ho and Otero also allegedly conspired to coerce the girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of creating child *advertiser censored*, according to U.S. Attorney Ben Glassman.

Ho and Otero are scheduled for an arraignment hearing at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in federal court.
Click to expand...

http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/pair-...sing-teen-case
 
[h=1]Missing-juvenile police sweep plucks 3 from potential sex trafficking[/h]
FLINT, MI - A first-of-its-kind sweep to find runaway kids in Genesee County may have saved three teens from potential human trafficking on Thursday, May 25.

The Michigan State Police, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Northeast Michigan Child Exploitation Task Force, scoured the county for 44 missing juveniles on International Missing Children's Day.
Click to expand...
While many of the kids were not deemed to be in danger, Krebs said, three of the juveniles were pulled from suspected human trafficking situations.

"The nature of the recovery of the children would indirectly imply that they were being involved in sex trafficking," she said. "It's going to involve a lot more investigation, to be sure."
Click to expand...
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/05/missing_juvenile_sweep_plucks.html
 
[h=1]Girl, 19, accused of pimping out missing 16-year-old[/h]
She was arrested in a Plantation motel room with a missing underage girl. Police say she pimped out the 16-year-old on Backpage.com, a website known for adult classified ads.

She’s only 19 herself.
Destiny Santilli, aka Tiny, Fro and Yazmine, is now in jail, held without bond on charges of human trafficking, living off the earnings of a prostitute and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, records show.
Santilli is accused of taking suggestive pictures of the scantily clad girl and posting them to Backpage.com. A police report said she took a cut, if not all, of the money the girl earned.
Click to expand...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-teen-female-pimp-arrest-20170601-story.html

:gaah::maddening:
 
Two of three missing Jasper teens reported found; human trafficker possibly also living in home

Jasper County Sheriff’s, U.S. Marshalls and the Bluffton Police Department SWAT team located the 16-year-old girls at 2112 Morgan Dollar Road in the Coosawhatchie community, Malphrus said Saturday.

“They were found alone and free to go as they pleased,” Malphrus said.

When asked how the girls ended up at the location Malphrus said officers are still investigating. He said the girls are not cooperating with law enforcement at this time.

Malphrus said he was unable to release information on the other individuals reportedly living in the house at this time.

“We have received information that one of them was possibly involved with human trafficking out of Savannah,” Malphrus said. “We haven’t been able to confirm it 100 percent.”
Click to expand...
 
Parents devastated, fear missing 15-year-old was human trafficking target


COLUMBUS, Ohio — What started out as a missing persons case now has some Franklin County parents living a nightmare.
They believe their daughter was being groomed for human trafficking.
[Redacted Name],15, went missing back in March. During those three days she was missing, the family believes her new friends were pushing her toward an abusive path of exploitation.
Click to expand...
And her braces were gone.

"I told the ER nurse I don't know if this matters, she had a full set of braces on when she left. The nurse's face was shocked.
Click to expand...
With her drastic change in personality, her change of appearance - and [The 15 year old girl] told them they wanted to give her a tattoo. The family believes she was being groomed for human trafficking.

There are warning signs for human trafficking: such as change in demeanor, change in friends, change in appearance and getting a tattoo on their neck or thigh.

All signs they say their daughter experienced, but at the time they had no idea about human trafficking. This is why they are speaking out. They want to warn parents about this terrifying issue.
Click to expand...
http://abc6onyourside.com/on-your-side/parents-speak-out-about-human-trafficking

I have removed the girl's name from the story in the quotes. I applaud her parents for speaking out to try to prevent this from happening to other teens, but IMO the media should have protected this girl's identity. This story is really eye-opening, especially the detail about the braces. JMO.
 
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