9 Dead In Texas Suspected Human Trafficking Operation After Cops Find Dozens In Sweltering Trailer At Walmart Parking Lot

Nine people were found dead early Sunday inside a sweltering trailer at a Walmart parking lot in southwest San Antonio, and dozens more suffered from heat-related injuries in a suspected human trafficking operation, police and fire officials said.

Police made the tragic discovery after a man managed to get out of the truck and ask a Walmart employee for water, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. Some of the passengers escaped into a nearby wooded area as police opened the trailer, McManus said.

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3 Nashville Businesses Raided In Prostitution, Money Laundering Investigation

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
Metro police have raided three businesses that they believe are involved in prostitution and human trafficking.


Police claim the three businesses have been serving as fronts for prostitution for several months.

Officers searched Shine Nails on Elm Hill Pike on Thursday morning. They said when they walked into the store, they caught a man undressed in a back room with a female employee. He was given a misdemeanor citation.

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Missouri Businesses Raided for Alleged Human Trafficking

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – More than a dozen businesses advertising as massage parlors in Springfield were raided as part of a multi-state investigation into human trafficking, Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Thursday.

Hawley and Greene County Prosecutor Daniel Patterson also filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking emergency orders to shut down the businesses. Hawley said young Asian immigrant females are being held against their will for sexual contact with customers under the guise of providing massages.

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Child Sex Trafficking In The US Is Exploding, Govt Admits They Aren’t Stopping It

A recent report on the number of sexually exploited children in Florida gives insight into a horrific world that is often ignored by the media, and that rarely holds millionaires, politicians and even local officials accountable for their involvement.
 
A report from the Florida legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability concluded that the state’s Department of Children and Family (DCF) and its lead agencies “have not resolved issues related to serving commercially sexually exploited children.”

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Woman Rescued, Two Charged With Sex Trafficking In Monroe County Sting

A Tennessee woman was rescued and two people were charged with trafficking her through online sex ads during an undercover sting at a Monroe County motel on Wednesday, according to court records.

Tarkira M. Bell 20, of Richmond, Va., Malik D. Edwards, 39, of Tobyhanna, allegedly met the victim days earlier in Charlottesville, Va., and asked her if she wanted to make money, records show. The victim wanting to get back to Tennessee agreed to go with Bell and Edwards, and they then forced her into prostitution, records show.

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JPSO: Rape Victim's Case Leads To Arrest Of Metairie Human Trafficking Suspect

METAIRIE, LA (WVUE) -
A Metairie man has been arrested for one count of first-degree rape and one count of false imprisonment, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office is urging anyone else who has been victimized to come forward.

On July 9, deputies were dispatched to the 2100 block of Manson Drive in Metairie in what was initially a medical call for a female with a leg injury sustained in a fall.  Deputies determined that the woman was trying to escape a physically abusive relationship, and that she had injured her leg while climbing out of a window to get away from 35-year-old Keston Mimmitt. Mimmitt was initially at the location, but left as the woman was being treated.

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Multiple People Charged After Human Trafficking Sting in the Poconos

SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Ten people are facing charges after police conducted a human trafficking sting in the Poconos.

Officials say that they raided a hotel near Stroudsburg, arresting Malik Edwards, 39, from Tobyhanna and a woman from Richmond, Virginia on charges of human trafficking.

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Sex Ad Revelations Put Backpage Back In Congressional Crosshairs

A shocking new report says controversial classifieds site Backpage.com hired a Philippines contractor to lure customers seeking sex – indicating the company solicited and created sex ads, despite years of claims in court and to Congress that it played no role in ad content.

The new trove of information – which includes emails, spreadsheets, audio files and employee manuals – from Backpage.com were revealed in an unrelated legal case and provided to The Washington Post.

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Bail Denied Man Charged With Sex Trafficking Slain Teen

A Chicago man is being held without bond on sex trafficking charges after federal prosecutors alleged the defendant attempted to recruit a woman to replace another who was killed.

July 6, 2017, at 10:50 p.m. 

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man is being held without bond on sex trafficking charges after federal prosecutors alleged the defendant attempted to recruit a woman to replace another who was killed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Parente on Thursday said 33-year-old Joseph Hazley told a girl he used to pimp that he had no money coming in after 16-year-old Desiree Robinson was slain. Robinson was allegedly killed last year by a man who answered an online sex ad.

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Third Person Charged In Jessup Human Trafficking Case

Police: 16-year-old girl was forced into prostitution

JESSUP, Md. —

Howard County police have arrested a third person in connection with a human trafficking investigation involving a 16-year-old girl.

Jessica Lynn Smitherman, 31, of Laurel, was charged with human trafficking. Police said investigators believe that Smitherman conspired with Andre Lamar Russell, 28, of Laurel, and Heather Lynn Harding, 23, of Woodbine, in late May and early June to force the teen into prostitution at motels in Jessup.

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Multiple Arrested In Connection With Human Trafficking Ring In Alamance County

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. -- The U.S. Marshal's Office arrested two people Wednesday in connection with a two-month human trafficking and prostitution investigation in Alamance County.

Briana Lashera Morrison, 30, and William Lee Reynolds, 30, were arrested by the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force at the Econo Lodge in Burlington, according to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson.

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Human Trafficking Suspect Turns Down 20 Years In 'Diamond Kitty' Case

ATLANTA – The man accused of and indicted on several human trafficking charges had a new attorney representing him in the courtroom Thursday morning, who relayed a no-go on the deal the District Attorney had offered him.

Kenndric Roberts, 33, who wasn’t present at the Fulton County Superior Court, said, according to his new attorney Kim Cornwell, that he declined the offer of 20 years in prison with 10 to serve.

Read more from Atlanta NBC11