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.

More from CBS St. Louis

Oakland: 3 Teen Girls Rescued In Human Trafficking Case

OAKLAND -- A man and woman are facing human trafficking and kidnapping charges after police rescued three young girls Wednesday that they were reportedly trying to force to work as prostitutes, authorities said Thursday.

The names of the 21-year-old man and 22-year-old woman were not released because they have not been formally charged and because the investigation is ongoing.

Police were able to find and free the girls -- ages 14, 15 and 16 -- on Wednesday morning from an apartment in the 1000 block of 65th Street in North Oakland after one of them was able to get access to a phone and call a relative just after 9 a.m.


Read more from here