Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
A 22 year old Burmese male, not a U.S. citizen, and a 23 year old white male have been charged with forced labor and trafficking with respect to forced labor. The 2 men tricked a 16 year old girl, a naturalized citizen, from Buffalo, New York into traveling to Fort Wayne, Indiana with them. The men invited the girl to a party in Fort Wayne and the girl agree to go with them, believing Fort Wayne to be a nearby community. She fell asleep in the car and woke up to see signs for Pennsylvania and Ohio. She screamed at the driver to turn around and let her use his cell phone. He refused. Upon arrival in Fort Wayne, the men pulled into a park and one of the trafficker climbed into the back seat and beat the girl while the other prevented her escape. After 3 weeks in an unknown location, the trio re-located to an apartment in Autumn Woods, at 6011 Salisbury Drive, Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were joined by one of the traffickers' wife and children. They later moved to Logansport. During the time the girl was held in captivity, she was forced to cook, do housework, and watch the children for no pay. At one point, she was locked in a room for 2 days without food by the wife. She was also beaten repeatedly. After the move to Logansport, the 22 year old trafficker began raping her. The girl became pregnant after she was raped in August, but was no longer pregnant by the time she was rescued. A witness reports that she was hit in the stomach by one of the men. While in Fort Wayne, the girl was not allowed out of sight of the two men, who spoke only in Burmese so she could not understand them. The girl was eventually taken out in public by the two men and was forced to use an alias. She was told that she would be arrested as a runaway if she tried to return to Buffalo, N.Y. and was told that it was dangerous to go outside. Her identification documents were taken from her, and her naturalization paper was torn up. http://www.fortwayne.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/JG/20081113/LOCAL03/811130304 http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/506337.html http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local_wlfi_logansport_teen_held_as_sex_slave_200811131040
Sex Trafficking2010
United States US
Chris Smiley - 27 years old - The victim tried to escape but she says Smiley "pointed a black semi-automatic gun at her and hit her in the side of the head with it" saying "You know what happens to the girls that try to run?" Ayannah Willis - 26 years old - The victim told police that night Willis threatened to "rape her with the knife." The victim says that's when Willis told her she would have to prostitute herself to pay off her parents' drug debt: she "would perform sexual acts and sexual intercourse with several men a day from ads" on "Craig’s list" and "live links" phone line. Latoya Harlin - 21 years old -Court documents detail the relationships of the three, who called themselves "Team Smiley."
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
A false promise of a $500-a-week baby-sitting job lured illegal immigrant Marlene Harpi from New York City to Indianapolis in 2001. But when she arrived here, the job turned out to be quite different. Police say Harpi was held in a Westside Indianapolis brothel and forced to have sex with at least 15 to 20 men a day. Two Hispanic teenage girls, who like Harpi had been recruited from New York, were also prisoners of the prostitution ring. Her captors warned her that she would "disappear" if she tried to flee. After three days at the West 16th Street house, Harpi was taken to a duplex on Sherman Drive just north of East Washington Street. There, her sex slavery continued for another three days.