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Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Denver, Colorado (2010)

A sex trafficking case from 2010 in Denver, Colorado, United States.

This page describes exploitation and abuse. Need to report something? How to report →

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

Law enforcement has been informed and has arrested the mother. Children have been taken out of the situation.

Response and intervention

DA’s office is pressing charges, girls are with Adams County Social Services. One of the girls is pregnant.

Bonded Labor2005

Denver, Colorado, United States, 2005

United States US

Young Jo Kwon and his wife Jessie, owners of Osaka Sushi in Denver, Colorado were accused of forcing two South Korean immigrants to work without pay. They have also been linked to the Korean mafia. The two withheld payment from the workers and threatened to get rid of their greencards and have them deported if they tried to escape.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2023

Highlands Ranch, Colorado, United States, 2023

United States

A Denver-area man brought foreign nurses to the US under false pretenses via visa fraud, then collected much of their pay while threatening deportation if they complained. Accused: Kizzy Kalu of Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

1 source
Sex Trafficking2012

Denver, Colorado, United States, 2012

United States US

Patrick Lloyd McGowan, 22; Chad Armand Gow, 20; Roy Manuel Ibarra-Gonzales, 20; and Bryan Steven Burns, 20, allegedly oversaw a human trafficking ring that involved the prostitution of children as well as the sale of methamphetamine and cocaine, according to a 70-count indictment. The indictment names 14 individuals suspected of running and patronizing a human-trafficking ring that used children for sex at locations ranging from Denver to Grand Junction, Colorado. McGowan, Gow, Ibarra-Gonzales and Burns are suspected of arranging "out calls" for the child victims through the Internet and coercing their victims through the use of drugs and threats of violence, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said. The three are suspected of transporting children to locations in Denver, Boulder, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Lakewood for sex, he said. The indictments also accuse McGowan of selling methamphetamine to an undercover officer at Casa Bonita in Lakewood on Dec. 21, 2011. Nearly 2 grams of meth was recovered from McGowan, according to the indictment. In addition, another 15 grams of meth was recovered when McGowan was booked into the Jefferson County Jail, the indictment stated. On one occasion, one girl was held down on a hotel bed in Boulder and "subjected ... to sexual contact without her consent," the indictment alleged. The ring advertised the girls as prostitutes on the Internet, according to the indictment.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016