Tennessee Must Fight Hard To End Human Trafficking

Like many people lucky enough to call Tennessee home, I’ve heard about human trafficking before. But it’s entirely different to see it firsthand, right here in our state.

I had the chance recently to see “Operation Someone Like Me,” spearheaded by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, from the inside. It is complex, lifesaving, incredible work. As a legislator, combating human trafficking is something we often discuss, but seeing it firsthand absolutely cemented my belief that we must continue working to implement policies that will assist our law enforcement throughout the state in these operations.

Read more from the Tennessean 

2 In Davidson County Charged With Human Trafficking

Celenia Pauline Gracelynn Bennett, 20, and Ashley Shane Upchurch, 25, both of Thomasville

Saturday, August 27, 2016 09:04PM

 

THOMASVILLE, N.C. -- 

 

Two Davidson County residents have been jailed under bonds totaling millions of dollars on charges of human trafficking.

Celenia Pauline Gracelynn Bennett, 20, and Ashley Shane Upchurch, 25, were arrested after authorities executed a search warrant at the pair's Thomasville home, WGHP reports.

Sex Trafficking Survivor: I Was Forced Into Prostitution

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland is known as a hotspot for sex trafficking. Experts say its location, dense population and many strip clubs make it fertile ground.

Andrea Benson didn’t work for a strip club, but she found herself deep in the seedy world of sex trafficking. She said it was someone she loved who got her involved.

Benson was just 22 when she met Michael Knight on a popular dating website. The recent college graduate was looking for a boyfriend at the time. She said she and Knight fell in love quickly and moved in together just weeks after they met.

Read more from Portland Oregon 

3 indicted for human trafficking of more than 40 victims in Prince George’s County hotels

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (ABC7) — Three people have been indicted in a human trafficking enterprise which operated out of various Prince George’s County hotels and involved more than 40 victims, officials said Tuesday at a press conference in Baltimore.

Officials said the victims were as young as "in their teens."

Police said that Rashid Marwan Mosby, 42, Terra Marie Perry, 35 are in custody and that the third suspect, Joshua Isaiah Jones, 26, is at large.

Read more here 

Major regional human-trafficking ring shut down, Maryland prosecutors say

Maryland law enforcement has shut down a wide-ranging human-trafficking ring that stretched across the region involving dozens of victims who were forced into prostitution under an agency being advertised as "Pink Pleasure Entertainment," police and prosecutors announced Tuesday morning.

Read more here 

Hundreds of Johns in Cook County Charged in National Sex Trafficking Sting

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office arrested more sex buyers than any other agency in the nation this summer.

More than 1,300 alleged sex buyers were charged in this year’s Johns Suppression Initiative, a national effort by law enforcement to curb sex trafficking.

And no place saw more arrests as part of the month-long summer sting involving dozens of agencies than Cook County.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office arrested 230 johns from July 1 to August 7, including 43 in cooperation with suburban police departments in Lansing, Matteson and Broadview.

Chicago Patch reports:

 

 

12 Arrested In Nebraska For Sex Trafficking Related Crimes

More than 1,300 sex buyers, a record, were arrested across 18 states in this summer's National Johns Suppression initiative aimed at reducing sex trafficking, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Department.

Nebraska reports: