British Model Drugged, Stuffed In Suitcase In Sex Trafficking Attempt, Police Say

CBS News reports that in

ROME -- A 30-year-old man has been arrested in the alleged kidnapping of a young British model who thought she was traveling to Milan for a photo shoot, but instead was drugged, stuffed into a suitcase and handcuffed inside a home in northern Italy before being released, Milan police announced Saturday.

Police identified the suspect as Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency. They said he was jailed for investigation of suspected kidnapping for extortion purposes.

CBS News reports

Could This Senator's Simple Solution Curb Sex Trafficking?

With President Trump's controversy-filled first week in the White House dominating the headlines, it might be easy to forget about some of the other issues that directly affect the lives of young women across the United States.

One of those issues is human trafficking. An estimated 400,000 U.S. minors are ensnared in that tragic situation. The vast majority of those teens are women.

Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-ND, and Susan Collins, R-ME, are joining forces to keep that issue in the political spotlight. On Tuesday, the bipartisan pair of female senators reintroduced legislation aimed at identifying and protecting human trafficking survivors.

Yahoo reports

Prostitution Sting in Poconos Highlights Human Trafficking Problem

STROUDSBURG -- Monroe County detectives say 19 people were arrested after a recent prostitution bust at a Stroudsburg hotel.

Detectives say two of those arrested were actually victims themselves, women who were victims of human traffickers, forced into having sex for cash.

"When we encountered them Friday night, you could tell just in their eyes that they were thankful that they were arrested because they knew that it was finally over and that they could get the help that they needed,” said Detective Kim Lippincott of Monroe County.

WNEP 16 ABC News Pennsylvania reports

Tip Led Cops To Alledged Human Trafficking Hot Spot

A house owned by a mobster’s wife was a human trafficking hot spot in a quiet Brighton neighborhood until one eagle-eyed resident dropped the dime that led to 16 arrests and 10 women being set free, officials said.

“It was just a matter of kind of being nosy, I guess,” longtime Brooks Street resident Kenneth Cutler told the Herald about his alerting police this summer to a house across the street where people were constantly looking for “massages.”

District 14 Sgt. Shawn Burns was more emphatic about Cutler’s contribution.

“It cannot be understated that Mr. Cutler’s actions may very well have saved the lives of these young women,” Burns said yesterday at a City Council meeting where police and councilors presented Cutler with a commendation.

Read more from The Boston Herald 

Trucker Accused Of Keeping Women As Sex Slaves Gets 20 Years

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah trucker who pleaded guilty to keeping women as sex slaves in his semi-trailer as he drove across the country was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison.

Timothy Jay Vafeades, 56, sexually assaulted and brutally beat the victims almost daily after trapping them in his truck and forcibly grinding down their teeth, federal prosecutors said.

One woman told a judge that her months-long ordeal began when she got into his truck to go to dinner with him. She started to worry when realized they weren't going toward any restaurants.

"He then said, 'I got you now. You are mine,'" she said. The vampire-obsessed truck driver controlled nearly every aspect of her life, including how she used the bathroom, she said.

MSN reports 

Pope Francis Lauds Women Religious In Fight Against Trafficking

Vatican City, Nov 7, 2016 / 05:07 pm

Pope Francis met in Rome with a unique group involved in the fight against human trafficking, where he noted the particular contributions of women religious, which often go unnoticed.

“Your activity in this area reminds us,” the Pope said Nov. 7, of ‘the enormous and often silent efforts which have been made for many years by religious congregations, especially women's congregations, to care for those wounded in their dignity and scarred by their experiences.”

Read more from  EWTN

Backpage Ceo Arrested On Sex Trafficking Charges

Oct. 6, 2016: This photo released by the Texas Office of the Attorney General shows Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleges that adult and child sex-trafficking victims had been forced into prostitution through escort ads posted on the site.  (Texas Office of the Attorney General via AP)



DALLAS –  State agents raided the Dallas headquarters of adult classified ad portal Backpage and arrested Chief Executive Officer Carl Ferrer on Thursday following allegations that adult and child sex-trafficking victims had been forced into prostitution through escort ads posted on the site.

Ferrer, 55, was arrested on a California warrant after arriving at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on a flight from Amsterdam, said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. In a statement, Paxton said agents from his Law Enforcement Unit participated in a search of Backpage headquarters and Ferrer's arrest.

"Making money off the backs of innocent human beings by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is not acceptable in Texas. I intend to use every resource my office has to make sure those who profit from the exploitation and trafficking of persons are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement.

Read more from FoxNews

South Dakota AG Joins Sex Trafficking Fight

 (CN) — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, along with 20 of his counterparts in others states, has added his name to an amicus brief filed in hopes of holding Backpage.com liable for sex trafficking.

     The brief was filed in the Supreme Court case of Doe v. Backpage.com, and says the Communications Decency Act (CDA) does not shield website operators from liability when they use language designed to attract sex traffickers in advertisements.

     The First Circuit previously upheld a dismissal of the case by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston.

     Three underage women claimed the website allowed advertisements for their trafficking in its "escorts" section.

Read more from  Courthouse News Service

Sex Trafficking's Unholy Tour

THE MONTH of fright is underway, which means half the city is doing its best to give me a heart attack.

Between massive spider webs stretched across driveways and skeletons dancing in trees, it’s really starting to look like Creep Town around here, which is excellent.

I do so love Savannah’s early enthusiasm for Halloween, even if I’m kind of afraid to walk the dog past the nice yellow bungalow on the corner that’s been transformed into the Shrieking Shack.

Regrettably, there’s a lot more to be scared of in real life than any moaning goblin yard decoration.
We’ve got masked shooters on the loose, multiple government agencies haunted by scandal and some seriously misguided mad science about to go down on Elba Island.

Even deeper into the darkness looms a human trafficking industry that’s harder to get a handle on than a zombie on flakka.

Read more from Connect Savannah 

Supreme Court Won't Block Senate's Backpage Sex Ads Subpoena

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a congressional subpoena seeking information on how classified ads portal Backpage.com screens ads for possible sex trafficking.

The high court's action means the website will have to turn over documents that a Senate panel has been pursuing for more than a year.

Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer had argued that the company's process for reviewing ads on its adult section is a "core editorial function" protected under the First Amendment. Lawmakers said the documents would help determine what if any business practices and policies the company has to prevent criminal activity.

Read more from FOXNEWS

Polaris and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas Launch Anti-Human Trafficking Digital Billboard Campaign Across Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Polaris and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA), a division of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (CCO), together with Congressman Erik Paulsen, today unveiled an anti-human trafficking awareness campaign to run on 53 digital billboards throughout Minnesota. The new campaign, launching today and running for three weeks, will alert victims how to reach out for help through the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) (1-888-373-7888), as well as raise awareness about the true nature of modern slavery.

Read more from Yahoo 

Galveston Pimp Convicted Of Sex Trafficking Minors

A Galveston man has been found guilty in federal court of sex trafficking minors.

Charles Fulton, Sr, 39, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and four counts of sex trafficking of minors by a jury in federal court in Houston.

 Co-defendants Charmell Latona Potts, 31, Dominique Warner, 23, and Lawrence James Jullian, 22, have previously pleaded guilty. All of the men are from Galveston, according to the Department of Justice.

Fulton was identified as the leader of the group and ordered Potts to post pictures of two minor females in prostitution ads online. The minors, whose names and ages were not released, testified that Fulton would keep the money they earned from performing sexual acts.

Read more from Galveston Texas

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Two La. Residents For Sex Trafficking

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
A federal grand jury indicted two Louisiana residents of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor.

According to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Udraka Roberts-Bey, 25, of New Orleans, and Jennifer Gabrielle Anselmo, 22, of Slaughter, conspired to recruit and a 15-year-old girl into prostitution.

The indictment alleges Roberts-Bey and Anselmo used the website backpage.com to post classified ads in the website’s ‘Baton Rouge Female Escorts’ section with the intent to financially benefit from the prostitution of a minor.

Read more from Baton Rouge

New Law To Curb Human Trafficking In Effect In Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A new law to combat the growing problem of human sex trafficking goes into effect Friday.

July 1 marks the implementation of many new laws in Tennessee. This legislation sponsored by Senator Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) will increase penalties for traffickers who promote another person for prostitution.

Read more from Local 8 Knoxville Tennessee

BAMA!!!! Opelika Police Department Bust Human-Trafficking Ring In Alabama

Police responded June 23 to a local hotel, where they found the 16-year-old girl and other underage girls in another room, who they said were also being forced into prostitution by adults.

Authorities arrested Aleisha Michell Bufford, 25, on two felony first-degree counts of human trafficking.

Read more from Alabama news

Jury Finds Accused Pimp Guilty Of Human Trafficking

DANVERS — A Salem Superior Court jury on Friday morning found Steven Diaz, 34, of Everett, guilty on charges of human trafficking and deriving support from prostitution.

Attorney General Maura Healey announced the verdict in a statement that afternoon. The jury, which began deliberations Thursday afternoon in the case, found Diaz not guilty of kidnapping.

"This defendant preyed on a vulnerable woman and coerced her into engaging in commercial sex with multiple men," Healey said in a statement. "People victimized by the egregious crime of human trafficking have not chosen this path for themselves and we will aggressively prosecute those who exploit others for their own profit."

Read more from here

Members Of Congress Urge DOJ To Fully Implement Human Trafficking Law

Posted: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 1:49 pm | Updated: 2:35 pm, Wed May 25, 2016.

By Community Reports

 

Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX-02) , along with Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), Ann Wagner (R-MO-02), and Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), held a joint press conference May 25 to call on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fully implement the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA) of 2015. Nearly a year after JVTA became law, the Members expressed concern that the DOJ has yet to implement the entirety of the law. Lack of implementation would thwart Congressional efforts to combat modern day slavery.

Read more from Houston, Texas Your News

Frisco, Texas Couple Are Arrested And Facing Sex Trafficking Charges After 'offering A Girl $10,000 To Take Her Virginity'

A Texas couple have been arrested and charged with sex trafficking and indecency after offering a girl $10,000 to take her virginity.

Officers in the city of Frisco detained Adriana Aguilar, 33, and 32-year-old Cirino Santiago Delacruz last week after they were accused of offering the girl money for sex.

They are now both being held at the Collin County Detention Center with immigration holds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3575305/Texas-couple-arrested-facing-sex-trafficking-charges-offering-girl-10-000-virginity.html#ixzz47pVRuoNi
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Pregnant Sex Trafficking Victim Exposes the Horrors: “If I Don’t Get an Abortion, I’m Dead”

Is abortion the ultimate empowerment issue for women or the ultimate exploitation of them? Feminists have argued both in the past 100-plus years.

But mounting evidence is bolstering pro-life feminists’ position that legalized abortion hurts women as well as their unborn babies, especially with the rise of human trafficking. Because abortion is legal and widely available in the U.S. and Europe, it is very easy for human traffickers to force their victims to abort their unborn babies.

Read  more here

Charlotte church runs to fight human trafficking

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
Sex Trafficking victims are being sold as property here in Charlotte on a daily basic.  One Charlotte church did something about Saturday morning.
Nearly 1,000 people ran in Central Church’s Pure Religion 5K Saturday morning for the millions who are caught in a life of slavery.

Read more here