Sex Trafficking2008
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2008
Canada CA
A woman from Eastern Europe stumbled into the police station at Dundas St. W. and University Ave. She said she was a sex slave.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
The data
Documented cases
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
1,631documented cases
112countries
1981–2025years covered
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Sex TraffickingCSECForced LaborBonded LaborChild LaborDomestic ServitudeForced MarriageForced CriminalityEcocide-Linked Slavery
Case list
Showing 1,105–1,128 of 1,631
Domestic Servitude2008
Tracy, California, United States, 2008
United States US
Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and Caren Ramirez, 43, all were arrested during the first two days of December, 2008 for suspicion of conspiracy, torture, kidnapping, child abuse, and false imprisonment. They held a teenage boy (name not yet disclosed due to the fact that he is a minor) shackled and chained in their garage, and forced him to do domestic labor, for up to 18 months (exact length of time to be determined). Schumacher and Lau are married and have 4 children of their own under the age of 10 (1 year, 3, 7, 9). There was no legal relationship between the married couple and the enslaved boy, Ramirez won custody for the boy in Sacramento Count prior to his imprisonment, but lost custody after she was arrested on charges of felony abuse in 2005. Neighbors of Schumacher and Lau said they say Ramirez at the couple's Tracy home regularly, and some neighbors said they were told that Ramirez was the boy's mother. The boy ran away from a Sacramento group home 15-18 months prior to his emancipation from the Tracy couple. Neighbors saw him doing yard work and other domestic chores. The boy apparently was chained in the garage of the Tracy house when he was not working or otherwise being closely watched.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Criminality2008
Tsangano, Mozambique, Malawi, 2008
Malawi MW
http://www.ldh.org.mz/index.php/en/projects-and-research/trafficking-body-parts The interview was conducted at Tete hospital with a victim (Victim) of a mutilation. According to the victim, on 5th August 2008, he was passing alone by a cemetery when he felt a knock on his head. When he woke up his complete genitalia had been removed and he was bleeding profusely. He started crying and some people who lived there (in Tsangano) came and took him to the local hospital. In the morning an ambulance took him to Tete hospital. The victim stated that he had heard about identical cases and mentioned that in 2008, a man was murdered and his heart and genital organs were removed. In 2006, a similar case happened. The victim said that people sell those organs and that the ones who buy them use them to make treatments for wealth and business. LDH: Can you tell us what happened? Victim: It happened on Tuesday (5th August, 2008, ed.). I went to the market. On my way back from the market, I passed by a cemetery and felt a knock on the head. I woke up on the floor. They had taken me to a corner and I was fainted. My genital organs had been removed. When I woke up because of the wind […] I started to cry and people that live there came. The persons who heard me crying picked me up and took me. Someone climbed a tree and started calling other people. The ones who did it were close and so they started running when they heard people calling. So, I was taken to the hospital. In the morning they made a phone call, and an ambulance came and took me to the hospital. LDH: What time was it? More or less. Victim: At dusk. LDH: Were you alone? Victim: Yes, I was alone. LDH: Wasn’t there any movement of people? Victim: No. There was no movement. LDH: So, you only woke up after everything had happened? Victim: Yes. I woke up after everything had happened. LDH: Did you manage to see who did this?? Victim: No. LDH: What do you do there? Victim: I am a peasant. LDH: How old are you? Victim: 32 LDH: This type of cases, are these frequent? Victim: I have heard about it other times. […] The year before the last, another person died. Even now, that I am here (in hospital, ed), I heard that the same happened to another person. LDH: Those other cases, were they identical or did they remove other type of organs? Victim: This case now, they took the heart and the genital organs. LDH: And the case of the year before the last? Victim: They also took. Normally, they take the heart and the genital organs. LDH: In the case of the year before the last? Victim: Yes, they took the heart and the genital organs. LDH: What do you think they do with those organs? Victim: Business, they sell. LDH: The ones who buy, what do they do with those organs? Victim: They make treatments and medicine for wealth and business. LDH: Did they take your organs or they left them? Victim: They took them. LDH: Did they cut it completely? Victim: They cut it completely. They put a knife here, and then here and took the testicles and even. I have nothing now (the victim proceeded to show the male interviewer the wound).
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
United kingdom, United Kingdom, 2008
United Kingdom GB
Thomas John Carroll, his daughter Toma Carroll, and Shaemial Clark. They have all denied joint charges of human trafficking into the UK, out of the UK, and controlling prostitution and money laundering.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2008
Canada CA
Tyrel Henwood is charged with assault, unlawful confinement and uttering threats, procuring a minor, living off the avails of prostitution of a person under the age of 18, compelling a teenager to engage in prostitution and threatening violence, intimidating and coercion. His trial date has been set for April 14-24, 2009 in the Victoria Provincial Court. He has elected to be trial by judge alone. Police recommended that Henwood be charged with trafficking in persons, but as of March 2009, Crown prosecutors had not laid this more serious charge.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
Vista, California, United States, 2008
United States US
The news article below details the offenses and the initial arrest, By EDWARD SIFUENTES - esifuentes@nctimes.com | Posted: November 25, 2009 8:55 pm SAN DIEGO ---- Two men accused of helping to run a prostitution ring that served migrant camps in North County pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court. The men, Eduardo Aguila-Tecuapacho and Carlos Tzompantzi-Serrano, stood expressionless in a federal courtroom as Judge Louisa Porter read the charge back to them. Both men said in Spanish that they were guilty of harboring illegal immigrants for the purposes of prostitution. Each man faces up to 10 years in prison. They are expected to be sentenced in January. Both are illegal immigrants from Mexico and will likely be deported once they have completed their sentences, Porter said. A third man involved in the case, Adrian Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez, is facing several charges that he brought women across the U.S.-Mexico border to use them in the sex trade. His trial is set to begin next month. Aguila-Tecuapacho helped Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez by renting an apartment in Vista where one of the prostitutes lived, according to court documents. Aguila-Tecuapacho also allowed Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez, who is his cousin, to use his name for cell phone accounts and vehicle registrations for cars that were used to transport the women. Tzompantzi-Serrano acted as a driver taking the women to various North County spots where the women allegedly worked in outdoor brothels, according to federal prosecutors. Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez allegedly befriended at least two women and then forced them into lives of prostitution. In May 2008, Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez allegedly paid a smuggler to bring Anabel de la Cruz-Ramirez, one of the prostitutes, illegally into the U.S. His relatives sheltered her in an apartment on West Los Angeles Drive in Vista. She later relocated to a nearby home at 311 Weston Circle. Once in North County, Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez allegedly took de la Cruz-Ramirez to meet clients in ranches, canyons and apartments, according to court records. He paid her rent, cell phone bills and bought her supplies, such as condoms. Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez, de la Cruz-Ramirez and another woman were arrested on Nov. 20, 2008, when sheriff's deputies stopped the vehicle they were in, in a rural area of Valley Center known as Couzer Canyon, a place authorities say is often used by sex traffickers to set up makeshift prostitution camps. Activists say prostitution is common in North County's migrant camps, where men live in makeshift shanties while working as farm hands and day laborers throughout the region. In recent years, authorities have busted several prostitution rings in the area, but officials say the cases are often difficult to prosecute because the women are often too scared to testify against their pimps.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
Waikiki Princess Kaiulani Hotel, United States, 2008
United States US
An Oahu grand jury has indicted two men on charges stemming from an alleged attempt to force a 20-year-old woman into prostitution. Johnathan Payne was indicted Wednesday on charges of first-degree promotion of prostitution, kidnapping and two counts of being an accomplice to sexual assault. Also indicted was La Shawn R. Adams on charges of kidnapping and third-degree assault. The woman alleged she had gone to meet a friend at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki, and was held against her will in a hotel room Jan. 9-11 by three men. The woman said the men wanted her to be a prostitute, according to a police affidavit. Police said the woman refused and asked the men to leave the room, but they held her captive instead. While being held, the woman was sexually assaulted, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2008
Waipahu, Hawaii, United States, 2008
United States US
In 2004 Lueleni Fetongi Maka brought seven Tongan men to Hawaii, promising them a better life. He then housed them in poor conditions and forced them to work in his landscaping business. Maka maintained control of the victims through beatings and threatening deportation. At times the beatings were so severe they could not work because of their injuries. The victims worked sunrise to sunset trimming trees and building rock walls. Maka paid victims between $100 and $200, if at all.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2008
Wakayama, Japan, 2008
Japan JP
The traffickers forced the victim, a 15-year-old, to have sex for money to cover her high phone bill. On one occasion in February 2008, the girl was forced to perform “an indecent sex act” with a man in a hotel room for 12,000 yen (£90). “Her mother was sentenced to three years and six months in prison along with a 100,000 yen (£750) fine, after being convicted of conspiring with the girl's stepfather to make the schoolgirl perform the sex act at the hotel.”
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Domestic Servitude2008
Walnut Creek, California, United States, 2008
United States US
Mabelle de la Rosa Dann, also known as Mabelle Crabbe, held 30-year old Zoraida Pena-Canal in captivity for nearly 19 months in apartment #64 of the Cypress Creek Apartments in Walnut Creek, California. Pena-Canal once worked in Peru with Dann's sister, who lives there. Dann, who works as a real estate agent in Walnut Creek, promised Pena-Canal a job caring for her three children as a nanny in the USA that would pay $600/mo and a private residence. Instead, Pena-Canal worked around the clock cleaning Dann's apartment, doing laundry, cooking meals and tending to Dann's three boys. Pena-Canal initially slept on the living room sofa in Dann's apartment, then subsequently was banished to sleep on the living room floor. Instead of paying her nanny/house keeper, Dann charged her $15,000 for living expenses, which she kept in her debt. Pena-Canal Dann forced her to smash her radio and TV so that she would not listen to Spanish-speaking radio and get information about the USA that might help her. Dann regularly abused her servant verbally and physically, and took away her identity documents, money and bank cards. She threatened to turn Pena-Canal over to the police if she tried to escape. Dann paid a third-party agent to secure a visitor visa for her victim, though she always intended for Pena-Canal to work in her home.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
Washington, D.C., United States, 2008
United States US
A couple, Franklin Macedo and Yaneth Martinez, were arrested for human trafficking and prostituting women from Mexico and Honduras. To get clients, the couple handed out business cards in the Hispanic neighborhood that said “hair cuts for men only”, or “flowers home delivery”. These cards were code language for prostitution.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, 2008
United States US
Elodia Capilla Diego, Sergio Gonzalez Ramos, Marcelino Berdou-Lopez
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2008
West Seattle, Washington, United States, 2008
United States US
The suspect was a 23 year old man who forced a 12 year old girl into prostitution. He met her thorugh a mutual friend on January 9th and invited her to hang out. Police said he had unprotected sex with her that night and several times over the next several days. When the girl failed to return home the night of the 9th, her family filed a missing persons report. During the five days, the two stayed at the homes of several women who described themselves as the suspect's fiances. She was ordered by the man to walk the streets of South King County to work as a prostitute and the man allegedly told her the exact price to charge for each sex act. She was also told not to tell her age to any customers. One of the suspect's "financees" became angry about the girl and called a phone number she found in a school binder that the girl had left at her home. The person who answered the phone turned out to be the 12 year old girl's sister. The "fiancee" told the sister where the missing girl was in downtown Seattle. Police said relatives found the girl Sunday night with the man in downtown Seattle. The relatives took the girl to Harborview Medical Center where a rape examination was performed and then went to the Seattle police department's West Precinct and notified police they had found her. After talking to the girl, the police found the suspect on a West Seattle street. According to detectives, the man's acquaintances say he has befriended other young girls, raping them as well as coercing them into prostitution.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2008
West Seattle, Washington, United States, 2008
United States US
A prostitution sting in December 2008 led to the arrest of 6 men, who allegedly prostituted 13 girls and women. One girl was at least 15yrs old at the time. It is alleged that the men used violence and coercion, forcing the girls to walk the street, and give the men their earnings. Five of the men have plead guilty to state related prostitution charges, in order to avoid federal human trafficking charges. The sixth has yet to plead out or face trial.
1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008
Westside of Seattle, United States, 2008
United States US
DeShawn Clark, 18, who goes by "Cash" or "Cash Money" was charged in November of 2008 with promoting prostitution and other charges. Prosecutors added the charge of second-degree human trafficking on Friday, March 20, 2009. This is the first time King County has charged anyone under the 2003 law that was passed that criminalized human trafficking. Charges agains DeShawn Clark now include second-degree human trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution, two counts of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor, second degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and drug possession. Thomas I. Foster, 19, was also charged in Movember and several other members were charged with various related counts Friday, including Shawn S. Clark, 20; Gerald Jackson, 21; Mycah Johnson, 19, and Desmond Manago, 20. Investigators say the gang, which is affiliated with the Bloods, has 20-30 members involved in robbery, drug sales, weapon possession and aggravated assaults, according to charging papers.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2008
Willemstad, Curaçao, 2008
Curaçao CW
The Curacao Drydock Co. hired at least 100 Cuban workers to repair cruise ships and tankers at its dock in Willemstad. Court records show that instead of paying the men, the Curacao company applied their $6.90/hour value to the Cuban government's multi-million dollar debt with the company. Company officials seized the Cuban workers' passports and forced them to labor as many as 112 hours a week fixing ships. The workers were rarely allowed to leave the shipyard complex and only in groups with a guard watching over them. They typically worked 15 days in a row, and sometimes 45 days in a row. Fidel Castro's nephew, Manuel Bequer, was a senior manager of the shipyard during the time of the enslavement. Three of the survivors, Alberto Justo Rodríguez, Fernando Alonso Hernández and Luis Alberto Casanova Toledo sued the Curacao Drydock Company in US federal court in Miami. Their Miami-based lawyer, Seth Miles, reports: "They faced the worst choice you can imagine: to continue being slaves not knowing if they would live or die because they were being treated so badly, or to try to escape, knowing that even if they were successful it would be horrific for their families in Cuba." Alonso Hernandez claims he was enslaved in hard labor for ten years. No information available on the length of servitude for the other 99 plus slaves. Documents reviewed by the Miami Herald offer a rare glimpse into the employment terms typically kept secret between the Cuban government and the firms with which it does business. The documents appear to offer proof that the Cuban government's joint ventures abroad frequently involve forced labor. For more info, see: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/734004.html http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/44550.html
3 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Domestic Servitude2008
Woodstock, Georgia, United States, 2008
United States US
Malika Garrett (wife) Russell Garrett (husband) D. William Garrett (father-in-law) Russell is a Forsyth County Deputy Sheriff and William is a Fulton County Magistrate County Judge of Alpharetta, GA. All three reside in Woodstock and all three were responsible for encouraging a female Indian to enter the US and serve as a nanny to Malika and Russell's children. They eventually quit paying her and restricted her from leaving their home. The woman worked up to 16 hours a day. As a means to prevent the woman from leaving and to scare her from leaving, the couple threatened her with jail and deportation and also threatened to spread lies about her character to her family back home in India. After the victim escaped, the couple conspired to spread rumors about the woman through out the community, accused her of theft, reported her illegal status to the authorities and accused her of engaging in terrorist activities.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Child Labor2008
Xichuan, Henan Province, China, 2008
China CN
the family gang was led by Ye Zengxi, 55, his son and daughter-in-law. Also involved was Ye's brother Ye Xiaolin. The gang used Ye's 12-year-old nephew to lure other children away from their parents' view with toys or food, and then whisked them away by motorbike. "The gang members had abducted nine children, all boys between two and eight years old, since April, and sold them to rural families," said Wang Jianmin, Nanyang Municipal Commission of Politics and Law secretary. Eight of the children were sold to rural families who wanted boys, while another was held captive awaiting a buyer before the police rescue.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2008
Xishaungbanna, Yunnan province, China, Thailand, 2008
Thailand TH
Three traffickers - referred to in China as "snakeheads" - tried to sneak 124 people out of China in early December 2008. The "snakeheads" had overseas backing according to the Chinese police (as reported by the Xinhua News Agency). They brought their victims to Yunnan with promises of jobs. In reality, they planned to traffick them into Myanmar with the collaboration of Burmese casino operators where they would be forced to construct roads. Numerous casinos run by drug lords and ethnic rebels operate on the Myanmar side of the long border with China. The victims were from poor families from villages near Chaoyang and Dandong in the Liaoning province - close to the main border between China and Korea.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Domestic Servitude2008
York, PA area, United States, 2008
United States US
Beginning in 2000 until August 2008, Lynda Dieu Phan, Duc Cao Nguyen, and Justin Phan conspired for Lynda Dieu Phan to travel to Vietnam to recruit victims to work in her nail salons located in the York, PA, area. The group arranged fraudulent marriages for the victims so they could gain entry into the United States. The victims were told that they could earn off their debt for being brought to America in 3 years. However, once in the country, the victims were forced to work at Lynda Dieu Phan’s nail salons and as domestic servants in her home. The victims reportedly worked long hours, often 7 days a week, for no pay. They were also said to have worked under emotionally demoralizing circumstances. One of the victims became acquainted with a customer through the nail salon, and it was through this customer that one victim was able to escape. The victim fled from Lynda’s home at 1:30am on June 1, 2008. The other victims were not emancipated until August 2008.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Bonded Labor2008
York, Pennsylvania, United States, 2008
United States US
Federal investigators have charged three people in a case of forced labor trafficking in York County that has been going on for eight years. Lynda Phan, of New Cumberland, went to Vietnam and recruited two women to work in her two nail salons in the York area, U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson said. Phan arranged fake marriages to Duc Cao Nguyen, of New Cumberland, and Justin Phan, of Tennessee, so the women could get into the United States, Carlson said. The women were then forced to work without pay at the nail salons.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Child Labor2008
northern Uganda, Uganda, 2008
Uganda UG
The Lord's Resistance Army was created in the mid 80's by Joseph Kony as a response to corruption in the Ugandan government. What began as a movement to liberate the Acholi people" has turned against them, kidnapping 50,000 Acholi children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves in the LRA.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2007
Aboard a tourist boat on the Amazon River, in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, 2007
Brazil BR
A man from Georgia in the United States, was accused of trafficking young women/offering sex with underage girls to customers paying to go on his fishing tours of the Amazon basin. His ex-wife was president of the fishing operation. The boat was described as a high-end river cruiser popular with wealthy American fishers. The four Brazilian plaintiffs (one was aged 12 at time of exploitation) reported that the man used a combination of promises, alcohol, and drugs to lure them onto the fishing boat. Once aboard, they were coerced into performing sexual acts with the man and his customers. Brazilian prosecutors state that there is both photographic and video evidence including “numerous images of Brazilian women in sexual poses within the vessels and in the company of foreign tourists.” It is described that the man used his agents and employees to recruit customers in the US to engage in such ‘sex tourism’. Court documents from Brazil and the US suggest that customers included members of a group that are currently under investigation for human trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism. The man from Georgia sent his employees into the local community, and nightclubs along the Amazon to recruit young girls. In return, they were reported to have been paid a ‘modest’ sum of money. One report states: “The case is noteworthy because it is the first time that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) will be used by alleged victims of trafficking to seek damages from a sex tour operation.” An example of the court transcript can be viewed here: http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com/_news/2011/04/30/6562102-brazil-prosecutes-schair-co-for-running-house-of-prostitution A YouTube newscast showing the girls being interviewed, as well as footage of the boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aENcxcxC2gk&feature=player_embedded
2 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2007
Accra, Ghana, 2007
Ghana GH
Police stopped the bus Mahad was being held captive and transported in, found her chained under the seats and released her. Differing media accounts regarding the cause of her attempted enslavement led to little if any action pursuing her captor and her would-be owner. Mahad is now recovering with the aid of a women's help group in Accra.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016