CSEC2009
United States US
At least two underage girls from Hawaii were among those recruited for a prostitution ring that shuffled victims between Honolulu and Detroit for nearly two years and advertised "escort services" on the Internet, federal authorities said yesterday. Four Detroit men were charged in connection with the scheme -- one of four prostitution rings nationwide under investigation since 2003 as part of a federal program aimed at ending human trafficking and child prostitution in the United States. The arrests of 19 people in Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in connection with the rings were announced yesterday at a Washington, D.C., news conference. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said more than 30 children -- some as young as 12 -- had been forced to have sex. All of the victims were American nationals, and some had been reported missing or had run away because they had been abused at home.
CSEC2006
United States US
Rodney D. King, 43, was charged with five counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Sharon-Mae Nishimura, 30, is accused of assisting King and was indicted on similar charges. King, also known as "Shadow" and "Special K," is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court here on June 29. A warrant has been issued for Nishimura's arrest.
CSEC2008
United States US
Higa understands the frightful reality better than most, because she herself was trafficked from China under the false pretense that she was going to a women's business school. When she arrived at a hotel to meet an instructor that would accompany her to the U.S., she was brutally beaten, raped and robbed of her belongings and personal documents. "Think about a girl who's been raped so many times she can't even recognize it as rape anymore, it's just part of her life," she said. Higa, like so many other modern-day slaves, was brought to Hawai'i and forced to work in a brothel on Ward Avenue. If she did not make enough money for the pimps and mama-sans, she was not allowed to eat, drink or sleep.