Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
The King County Prosecutor's office last week charged DeShawn "Cash Money" Clark with the crime as part of an ongoing case it launched in November against several defendants reputedly associated with a gang called the "West Side Street Mobb." Clark is alleged to have preyed upon his longtime relationship with an on-again, off-again girlfriend. According to the court papers, he and his buddies promised to take care of her if she became a prostitute and gave them the proceeds. They stashed her at various hotels, where she would keep her sex earnings in the rooms' bibles, and advertised her services on Craigslist. Clark used her for sex, and sometimes would act nice. At other times, he would beat her, like when she wasn't making enough money for him. The West Side Street Mob used other women the same way, according to the court papers. Investigators believe members of a gang called the Westside Street Mobb forced 12 women and girls to perform sex acts for money, beat them and took the money they earned over several months last year, according to charges filed in King County Superior Court
Sex Trafficking2005
United States US
Agni Lisa Brown (a.k.a. “Agni Lisa Graham,” “Michelle,” and “Lisa”) and her daughter Maria Antoinetta Mourizaki (a.k.a. “Tonia”) ran a brothel located in Springfield, Virginia between the years of 1997 and 2005. The brothel was open 6 days a week, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The prostitutes were often illegal immigrants in the United States, some of whom had been trafficked into the country by human traffickers. Information on the traffickers is unknown since Brown and Mourizaki were uncooperative and did not divulge this information. The women were trafficked from multiple areas, including but not limited to Mexico and Thailand. Brown and Mourizaki hired women around the ages of 18-25, convinced them to engage in illegal prostitution, transported them over state boundaries, and housed many of them in the brothel. They had a diverse work force that included Asian, Hispanic, and American women. The exact number of women who worked in the brothel during its time of operation is unknown, but it is believed that a small number of women worked there for a long time. In the case of at least one of the trafficked victims, the woman paid a large sum to enter the United States; when she was sold to Brown, Brown assumed her debt, and so the women fell into a situation of debt bondage. Agni Lisa Brown split the money earned from the brothel into five bank accounts at Burke and Herbert Bank and 5 bank accounts at Suntrust Bank. She used that money to pay for the rent of the brothel from 2000-2005, to pay for the utilities and maintenance of the brothel from 2000-2005, and to pay for newspaper advertisements in both the “Adult Employment” and “Adult Services” sections of the Washington City Paper from January 2002-March 2005. Brown also laundered money from the brothel. During the time the brothel was open, she deposited $731,432 into bank accounts, purchased $633,504 in properties and cars, and kept $168,900 in her home.
CSEC2011
United States US
Rances Ulices Amaya, a/k/a “Blue” or “Murder,” 23, of Springfield, VA, was indicted November 23, 2011, on charges of conspiracy and three counts of sex trafficking of a minor. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison for each sex trafficking count and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy. According to court documents, Amaya is a leader of the Guanacos Lokotes Salvatrucha (GLS) clique of MS-13. In June 2009 and throughout the fall of that year, Amaya is accused of conspiring with others to recruit multiple juvenile females to work as a prostitutes and transporting them throughout Northern Virginia for appointments that Amaya had arranged with clients. He is accused of providing the juveniles with alcohol and narcotics to facilitate the prostitution scheme, along with remaining with the juveniles during prostitution appointments to ensure the clients did not violate the rules he had set for the sexual encounter.