CSEC2006
United States US
FBI and Human Trafficking Task Force in Los Angeles accused the defendants of crimes. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement/ U.S. Department of Labor were also involved. Nine defendants have been arrested thus far. One a fugitive until recently arrested on September 15th, 2008. Intervention and investigations began into the ring after one of the trafficking drivers contacted authorities in October 2006.
Sex Trafficking2006
United States US
FBI and Human Trafficking Task Force in Los Angeles accused the defendants of crimes. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement/ U.S. Department of Labor were also involved. Nine defendants have been arrested thus far. One a fugitive until recently arrested on September 15th, 2008. Intervention and investigations began into the ring after one of the trafficking drivers contacted authorities in October 2006.
CSEC2006
United States US
FBI and Human Trafficking Task Force in Los Angeles accused the defendants of crimes. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement/ U.S. Department of Labor were also involved. Nine defendants have been arrested thus far. One a fugitive until recently arrested on September 15th, 2008. Intervention and investigations began into the ring after one of the trafficking drivers contacted authorities in October 2006.
Sex Trafficking2006
United States US
June was arrested in August of 2006 in Madisonville, TX, held in Houston on $150,000 bond. 40 count indictment handed over, pled guilty to two felony counts, $10 million in assets seized, sentenced by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna to 18 months in federal prison.
Sex Trafficking2006
Australia AU
Thai women were trafficked into Australia by a Thai woman DS and sent to work in brothels in Melbourne and Sydney. Five of these Thai women were sent to Ms Wei Tang's licensed brothel Club 417 in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The women were told they would be able to work legally in the sex trade and send money home to their families, once they had paid off their “debt”. However, they did not know the precise terms of their debt or their living or working conditions until they arrived in Australia. They were "owned" by “syndicates” with Tang taking 70% of their earnings and DS and her associates taking 30%. Each woman was bought by the syndicate from the "boss" in Thailand who recruited them for $AUD20,000. However, they were told their total "debt" to the syndicate was $45,000. The women were forced to work six days a week without any pay because all of the $110 charged to each client was divided between their owners, with $50 going toward paying off their $45,000 debt. The women were only allowed to keep that $50 per client on their seventh "free" day each week. Between August 2002 and May 2003 each woman was forced to serve up to 900 customers over 4-6 months. The women's passports and return airfares were taken from them and they were effectively restricted to the brothel premises because of their hours, nature of work, lack of payment and the fear of detection by immigration authorities, instilled in them by Tang and DS. The women lived in premises arranged by Tang. Two of the women ultimately paid off their debts, were given back their passports and were free to choose their hours of work and accommodation.
CSEC2006
United States US
Immigration & Customs Enforcement At his plea hearing, Reyes-Santillan admitted to operating a brothel and knowingly employing a juvenile to engage in prostitution. Diego Cortes-Barrientos and Rafael Cortes-Barrientos admitted to working at brothels in Memphis and taking money from clients who engaged in commercial sex acts with alien prostitutes. Both defendants further admitted that neither they nor any of the other operators of the brothels had filed a factual statement with ICE setting forth the names of the aliens, the place at which they were kept, the date of their entry into the United States, their ports of entry, or their ages, nationality, or parentage.
CSEC2006
United States US
An investigation revealed that a girl had been transported by "D-LO" from Detroit to South Florida for the purpose of prostitution. At trial, the victim testified that she was physically assaulted by the defendant and was forced to work as a prostitute at various locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. After a physical altercation with "D-LO," in which he placed a revolver in the mouth of the minor victim, "D-LO" passed off the girl to another pimp named "Snake," who admitted at his plea hearing that he coerced the victim into performing commercial sex acts by "slapping her around.
CSEC2006
United States US
On June 14, 2006, Kareem Jackson and Eriverto Cotto was arrested for holding a 17-year-old female against her will at his residence. Acting as the girl's pimp, Jackson arranged for her to perform sex acts to repay an alleged debt to Jackson. Jackson sent the juvenile to a Miami hotel room in response to a call for one or more prostitutes. Unbeknownst to Jackson, undercover City of Miami Police Department detectives had made the call. Shortly after the minor arrived at the designated room, the detectives detained her. The girl explained to the detectives that she was 17 and had been held captive.
CSEC2006
United States US
Minor victim (16 years old at time of arrest) was arrested in Miami, FL by local police. Victim is a native of Union City, GA who was trafficked by her pimp across state lines.
CSEC2006
United States US
Law enforcement has placed the runaway girl back with her family. Santa Barbara police detective Chad Hunt obtained an arrest warrant for Rivers, and US Marshalls tracked Rivers down in Las Vegas. Rivers and Johnson were arrested. Rivers was charged with enticing a minor to commit lewd acts, pandering, and human trafficking. Johnson has been charged for pimping and pandering a minor, evading arrest amounting to a felony, and being an unlicensed driver.
Forced Labor2006
United States US
Leo Salazar Express Forestry, Inc., Rick Thomas and Sandy Thomas Guest Worker H-2B Visa A delegation of seven individuals, including an Express Forestry manager, confronted the wife and sister of Hugo Martin Recinos, lead plaintiff in the case, seeking contact information for him. They attempted to bribe his wife, Maria, by offering more than $6,600 in return for his withdrawal from the case.
CSEC2006
United States US
Juan Mendez and Cristina Andres Perfecto traveled to a rural area in Mexico to recruit underage girls to come to the United States under false promises of working in restaurants. Perfecto convinced a 13 and 17 year old girl to return to the United States with her. She charged them 3,000 dollars for recruitment fees. Once they arrived in Tennessee the girls were beaten and raped by Mandez and forced to work in brothels throughout the state and required to have sex with as many as 40 men a day.
CSEC2006
United States US
Fernando Pascual smuggled the 13-year old victim into the U.S. from Guatemala in 2004. She was forced to work as a domestic servant in his home, and was also kept as a sex slave by Pascual and his brother, Mario Pascual. The victim was sold to Fernando Pascual by her mother and stepfather. He fathered the victim's 2-year-old son.
Sex Trafficking2006
United States US
An international prostitution ring operated 19 brothels in the Northeast, from Rhode Island to Washington DC. The brothels were run out of “businesses” including massage parlors, health spas, and acupuncture clinics. Some of the known locations include: Crystal Spa on West Ave. in Norwalk, Connecticut and Cleveland Park Holistic Health on Connecticut Ave. in Washington DC. Several brothels were also found on West 26th St. and 59th St. in Manhattan. The brothels’ clients were generally Asian customers, who had learned of the establishment by word of mouth. The victims were recruited in Korea to come to the US, and travel with false documents or were smuggled across the Mexican or Canadian border. The victims’ identification and travel documents were taken, and she was threatened to be beaten or have her family in Korea harmed is she tried to leave. They were told they had to pay of tens of thousands of dollars in traveling debt from their trip.
CSEC2006
United States US
Children's Hospital of Oakland, CA where victim was receiving medical treatment, referred victim to MISSSEY. While in MISSSEY's program, victim was referred to and received mental health counseling, after school programs.
Sex Trafficking2006
United States US
Yelena Aleksandrovna Telichenko met the victim, a Russian woman, in Philadelphia, where Telichenko convinced the victim to move to Orlando, FL. After arriving, the victim was forced to serve as a mistress to several men. If she objected, Telichenko would beat her. The victim was also forced to work cooking and cleaning the apartment. Telichenko is also known as Ella Schenkerberg, a court interpreter from Ukraine.
Sex Trafficking2006
Canada CA
In June 2006 the RCMP and US Border Patrol intercepted 8 female and 2 male Korean nationals attempting to walk across the border into the US. Several of the women indicated during preliminary questioning that they had to pay a debt for their crossing once they reached their destination. Some also mentioned that they were going to work in the US in jobs such as waitressing; however, there was evidence that they were destined to be forced to provide sexual services at massage parlours.
Domestic Servitude2006
United States US
On July 20,2006 a jury found that the defendants willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act....BUT did not find that the defendants held the victim in forced labor, trafficked her into forced labor, or inflicted emotional distress upon her. The victim was award money on the violation of the fair labor standards act and received a portion of money for her attorney fees.
CSEC2006
United States US
FBI, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Pasadena Independent School District Police Department, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Project Safe Childhood (projectsafechildhood.gov). FBI took trafficker into custody after a 3-year investigation after a high school studen in Pasadena got off the bus and disappeared in September 2006.
Sex Trafficking2006
Malaysia MY
Police officers in the Philippines arrested and questioned Rachel Sabal after receiving information from Edmonds and Howe. After questioning, Sabal was arrested and held in custody for investigation of human trafficking. Police in Malaysia performed a search of an apartment where Edmonds and Howe suspected Ejercito was being held. Though they found evidence that she had been there, there was no continuation of the investigation after that. When Ejercito turned up at the police station in Malaysia, she was interviewed while her captor, Kang, sat in the room with her, preventing her from speaking honestly about her situation. Howe suggested that Kang be removed from the room and once he was, Ejercito admitted that she was being held against her will. Though there is no evidence, both Edmonds and Howe believe that, based on the behavior of the police and Kang, that they had a preexisting relationship. Later, after Dr. Ng had arrived at the police station and Ejercito's passport had been returned, the police permitted both Kang and Dr. Ng to walk free and no trafficking charges are known to have been filed against them. However, in 2006, Philippine official organized an operation to rescue the 15 other victims that were being held captive by Dr. Ng and Kang.
CSEC2006
United States US
A typical 16-year-old in a middle-class home in suburban Pensacola, Fla., Shauna Newell’s nightmare began innocently enough: A new friend she had met in high school asked her to come to her home for a sleepover. Newell’s mother, Lisa Brant, didn’t like the idea, but after weeks of lobbying by her daughter, Brant met with the girl and the man she said was her father to make sure her daughter would be safe. But the girl’s “father” was really a convicted felon, and the girl, who had a record of prostitution in Texas, was an accomplice in the abduction. “Her dad took us to this house and said he'd be right back and he left us there,” Newell recounted in a taped interview. “And I asked for some water because I was thirsty. And I drank the water and I blacked out.” The water had been laced with a drug. When she woke up, Newell was groggy and couldn’t move. “My legs were being held down, and the guy that was raping me was holding my hands back,” she said in a quiet voice. “I kept screaming, ‘Stop, please don't do this. Leave me alone.’ But I was so weak, I couldn't fight them off. Like I was, I was so really out of it. And I blacked out a few times and I kept coming back to. And I was still being raped every time I woke up.” Left alone for a moment, Newell managed to call her mother. “My cell phone rang. And all I heard was, ‘Mommy, help me,’ ” Brant said. “And the phone went dead. And I freaked!”
Sex Trafficking2006
United States US
A syndicate held girls as sex slaves by forcing them to work off tens of thousands of dollars of debt they had accrued for phony documents and transportation to the U.S., the feds said. Investigators said recruiters in Korea sought out women who wanted to make money to support their families. The recruiters took care of everything, supplying fake immigration documents, passports and visas, and transporting the women to the U.S. A network of transporters drove them to brothels along the East Coast. They were stripped of their identification and phony passports, thus cutting off any chance that they could flee the country. Besides, if they thought about running, the women were warned that they could be handed over to the police - or, worse yet, that their fhttp://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-16694466_ITMamilies in Korea could be killed.
Child Labor2006
Congo CG
Hundreds of children have been trafficked into Pointe Noire, largely from West Africa from Benin, followed by Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Togo and one Central African country, Cameroon. They are promised work and money to return home by compatriots who employ them. "The children are given to 'tutors' [from West Africa] against a certain amount of money with the promise of a job or apprenticeship. Some of the children are illiterate, while others have had some kind of schooling," said Constance Mafoukila, one of the researchers of the report. Most of the children in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, brought there by intermediaries who promise them a visa to Europe or South Africa. In reality, they are used as cheap labour, and girls over the age of 12 are pushed into prostitution. The children were victims of exploitation, including sexual abuse, and denied an education, Mafoukila said. The survey on which the UNICEF report was based was conducted in November 2006. More information: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ca61e1a47d39126c98ed5ccf8a34e7c8.htm Many people from West African countries live in Pointe-Noire working as fishermen and have established residential camps along the beaches. They also own shops where foreign child workers are employed, according to non-governmental organisations. Observers say these traders prefer employing West African children to the Congolese because they do not demand as much money. The scale of the phenomenon is hard to measure, although the children of Benin seemed to be most at risk in this traffic, with 1,800 estimated to be in Congo. Regarding those from DRC, the police reckoned 80 children were crossing the border every day, of whom half would return home.
CSEC2006
United States US
Juan Rico Doss received the mandatory sentence of life in prison. On June 26, 2006, a federal jury determined that Doss was guilty of two counts of sex trafficking of children, three counts of transporting minors into prostitution, one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children and transporting minors into prostitution, and two counts of witness tampering. In April 2006, Doss' first trail was declared a mistrial after the younger victim refused to testify against Doss. It was determined that the witness had been influenced by Doss, which led to additional charges of witness tampering against Doss. Doss is one of the first in the nation to receive the mandatory life sentence pursuant to Section 3559(e), which calls for mandatory life imprisonment for repeated sex offenses against children. On Nov. 1, 2006, Judge Larson found that Doss’s previous conviction in the State of Nevada on charges of pandering of minors for the purpose of prostitution qualified as a prior sex offense under this statute. Doss' wife, Jacquay Quinn Ford, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for her role in the crimes. She cooperated with the government and testified against her husband.