The data
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Showing 793–816 of 892
United States US
The leaders of the prostitution ring, Martin Carbajal-Servin and Estella Aguilar-Ortiz, a husband and wife were living inside the United States illegally. They recruited a young woman from Mexico using the promise of a legitimate job in Myrtle Beach. They then forced her into prostitution and threatened to kill her if she did not comply.
United States US
Seven defendants pled guilty to forced labor and obstruction of justice charged. The Kang's received four counts of knowingly and intentionally holding their Jane Doe's as well as four counts of aggravated sexual abuse. A Federal Air Marshal and a Dept. of Homeland Security agent were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice for attempting to force one of the victims to get on a flight to South Korea to keep her from testifying against the couple.
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.
United States US
After several episodes of abuse, molestation and rape by relatives, this child was sent out to “get money” by her mother during frequent periods when there was no food or utilities in the house. “Boyfriend” kidnapped this child and transported her from Alameda County to Sacramento County where she engaged in prostitution. Subsequently commercially exploited by various unknown adult males.
United States US
The family that owns this restaurant also owns one in Jacksonville, AL. They own a house near the Oxford restaurant where they keep Mexicans in poor conditions in the basement, and do not allow them to become friendly with any Americans that work at the restaurant. Their wages are strictly controlled, and they work seven days a week. If any repairs are needed in the kitchen, they wait until an item breaks, then withhold earnings until it is repaired. There is no transportation to anywhere but work, and the conditions at the house are primitive at best. Personal items are discouraged by the lack of security, no doorknobs, appliances, beds, etc. The Asian workers, who have cars and freedom, live in the upstairs portion of the house
United States US
Ron Evans recruited workers from homeless shelters in New Orleans, Tampa, and Miami, among other cities, promising them good jobs and housing. The victims then came to Evans’ labor camps in Palatka, FL and Newton Grove, NC. Evans then deducted money for rent, food, crack cocaine, and alcohol from the workers’ pay. In Palatka, the camp was surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Ron Evans worked for the grower Frank Johns, who in 2004 served as Chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (a lobbying organization within the Florida agricultural industry).
United States US
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein asked victim to become his sex slave. Victim was taken to several cities and countries and required to satisfy "every sexual whim" of both Epstein and his friends.
United States US
JIAN ZHONG TANG, 37, used employment agencies in New York, Chicago, and California to find and employ workers for his restaurant, the New Great Wall in Tacoma, WA. The workers never filled out any paperwork related to their employment, never provided any proof of their status in the U.S. and were paid in cash. TANG admitted he knew some of the workers were not legally in the United States. TANG was sentenced to ten months in prison and three years of supervised release for Concealing and Harboring an Illegal Alien.
United States US
Senior Pastor Richard G. Manning is the senior pastor of the Parma Baptist Church. He was arrested on a felonious rape charge. Police said he coerced a Thai immigrant into having sex by making her believe he could have her deported because she is not a U.S. citizen.
United States US
Several traffickers (four adult males, one adult female, all U.S. citizens) participated in a prostitution ring of one victim (13 years old, female, U.S. citizen). The victim’s father sold the sexual services of the victim to his friends. The victim received money and candy in exchange for the rapes. The father raped the 13-year-old victim and another daughter who was 17 years old at the time. Authorities charged Joseph Saunders (DOB 03/28/1937) of Reynoldsburg, Ohio with three counts of compelling prostitution and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct. Saunders pled guilty to all charges. Licking County Common Pleas Judge John Spahr sentenced Saunders to 24 years imprisonment, payment of court costs and attorney fees, and registry as a sex offender. also in the case, his friends... Ohio v. Bly, Case # 2005 CR 00654 (2005). Authorities charged Garry Bly (DOB 10/13/1939) of Columbus, Ohio, with ten counts of compelling prostitution, ten counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of illegal use of minor in nudity oriented material or performance. Bly pled guilty to all charges. Judge Jon Spahr sentenced Bly to 14 years imprisonment, payment of court costs and attorney fees, and registry as a sex offender. Ohio v. Coss, Case # 2005 CR 00662 (2005). Authorities charged Thomas Coss (DOB 08/27/1977) of Buckeye Lake, Ohio, to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Coss pled guilty to both 39 counts. The court sentenced Coss to two years imprisonment, payment of court costs and attorney fees, restitution, and registry as a sex offender. Case # 2005 CR 00652 (2005). Authorities charged the victims’ father with three counts of rape (a first-degree felony) and three counts of gross sexual imposition (a third-degree felony). The father admitted to raping his two daughters and pled guilty to all counts. The court sentenced the trafficker to 18 years imprisonment, payment of court costs and attorney fees, registry as a sex offender, and five years of post-release probation. Ohio v. Smith (2006). Authorities charged Joseph Saunder’s girlfriend, Trudy Smith, 26, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, with two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The court found Smith mentally ill in April, 2006 and ordered her to undergo six months of treatment at a medical facility.
United States US
This international sex trafficking syndicate lured a young college student, You Mi, from her home in South Korea February 2003. She was promised a well paying hostess position at a restaurant so that she could pay off her $40,000 shopping debt back home. Instead, the traffickers took her to an illicit massage parlor in LA, where she was manipulated and used to pay off her $20,000 trafficking debt. She left the Massage parlor in July 2003 $0 richer and headed on a bus for San Francisco. She found that since she was an illegal immigrant, the only available work for her that was lucrative enough to pay off her debt was sex work. She wondered into the Sun Spa, where she was immediately handed off to the "masseuse" with the most seniority. For the next four months she endured a life that she had never imagined back in Korea. The Tenderloin is where the bulk of San Francisco's 90 illicit massage parlors are concentrated, identifiable by double metal security doors, surveillance cameras and windows that are blocked out with aluminum foil, plastic garbage bags or paint. She'd spend her waking hours at Sun Spa, having sex with more than a dozen men a day, six days a week, and scurrying into secret hideaways during police raids. Her share of the rent on her apartment was $300 per week. You Mi would also have to pay $50 a day for food, a $40 weekly tip to the cook, plus a $70 weekly tip to the Sun Spa manager. She also had to pay for her wardrobe, $100 per bikini top or bottom. Her tips from customers were typically $100. See Operation Gilded Cage post for more details about trafficker.
United States US
While living in Juventino, Mexico, Olivia Zepeda recruited four workers to work for her three sons’ roofing business, Golden Roofing LLC. The workers signed four-year work contracts with the brothers. They took a bus to a border town in July 2006, and a smuggler took them across the border. In Austin, Texas, the victims met up with two of the brothers (Juan and Jenaro Gutierrez) who drove them to St. Louis. The smuggler was allegedly paid $4,000 per worker. After arriving in St. Louis, the victims were abused, threatened, and their activities were restricted. Their smuggling debt kept increasing every time they asked about it.
United States US
Willoughby, Shope and Huskey were among 31 people linked to four child prostitution rings in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Eric Willoughby, 40, pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy and interstate transportation of minors for prostitution. Co-defendants Brandy Shope and Jennifer Huskey pleaded guilty to the same charges and were both sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison. A fourth defendant, Richard Lamar Gordon, was sentenced to 5 years for transportation of a minor for prostitution. A grand jury in Detroit charged the defendants in December 2005 with forcing two Toledo girls, 14 and 15, into prostitution in May of that year. The girls were held for 10 days in Michigan, where they were taken to hotel rooms for prostitution. Willoughby assaulted the girls and forced them to engage in sex acts while Shope and Huskey collected money from patrons, Murphy said.
United States US
A man accused of running a prostitution ring recruited girls younger than 18 - once paying $600 for a 17-year-old girl - and moved them from state to state for his business, a federal grand jury said in an indictment. Franklin Robinson, 36, of Toledo, Ohio, was arraigned Tuesday on a seven-count indictment after being arrested in Michigan, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod in Harrisburg. Polaris Project | P.O. Box 77892, Washington, DC 20013 | Tel: 202.745.1001 | www.PolarisProject.org | Info@PolarisProject.org © Copyright Polaris Project, 2007. All Rights Reserved. 57 He pleaded not guilty to charges that include three counts of transporting minors across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity. Authorities said Robinson, using such aliases as Michael Tucker, "Silk" and "Silky Red," has run prostitution rings in at least 10 states since 2001: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland and Tennessee, as well as Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, he allegedly brought two girls from Toledo to work as prostitutes in Harrisburg, the grand jury said. The indictment also claims he recruited prostitutes from Georgia, Ohio and New York and brought 12 prostitutes from Toledo to work in Harrisburg in March. Court records say Robinson wired more than $3,500 related to his prostitution activities from the Harrisburg area to Ohio and Indiana, or from Indiana to Ohio, in 2001. He is quoted in the indictment telling someone that he once beat a prostitute so badly his hands swelled up, and with threatening to cut the throat of a man he thought was causing trouble for one of his girls. Zubrod declined comment on the case. Robinson's lawyer, Heidi R. Freese, said she has spoken with Robinson - who is being held without bail at the Dauphin County Prison - since being appointed his lawyer earlier in the week. "All I can tell you at this point is it appears to be a complicated case," she said Friday.
United States US
In total, 10 people were charged with violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), for counts of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. The leader, Medrano, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor, eight counts of forced labor, one count of alien smuggling, and eight counts of harboring illegal aliens. The bars owned by Medrano where the victims worked are: El Paisano Bar and Nightclub at 509 22nd St. Union City, El Puerto del la Union I at 6710 Bergenline Ave. Guttenberg, and El Puerto de la Union II at 3806 Bergenline Ave. Union City. Lourdes Rosales Martinez, Zenia Zunilda Martinez, and Nancy Floridalma Rosales Martinez recruited the victims in Honduras, and were charged with counts of conspiracy, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. Jose Arnaldo Isuala-Meza and Elsa Consuelo Isuala-Meza smuggled the victims to the US, and were charged with conspiracy, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, Ana Luz Rosales Martinez, Jose Dimas Magana, and Rosalba Ortiz were charged with conspiracy, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens.
United States US
In total, 10 people were charged with violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), for counts of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. The leader, Medrano, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor, eight counts of forced labor, one count of alien smuggling, and eight counts of harboring illegal aliens. The bars owned by Medrano where the victims worked are: El Paisano Bar and Nightclub at 509 22nd St. Union City, El Puerto del la Union I at 6710 Bergenline Ave. Guttenberg, and El Puerto de la Union II at 3806 Bergenline Ave. Union City. Lourdes Rosales Martinez, Zenia Zunilda Martinez, and Nancy Floridalma Rosales Martinez recruited the victims in Honduras, and were charged with counts of conspiracy, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. Jose Arnaldo Isuala-Meza and Elsa Consuelo Isuala-Meza smuggled the victims to the US, and were charged with conspiracy, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens. Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, Ana Luz Rosales Martinez, Jose Dimas Magana, and Rosalba Ortiz were charged with conspiracy, forced labor, alien smuggling, and harboring illegal aliens.
United States US
A 15-year-old girl was prostituted to eight different customers during a five-day kidnapping ordeal in which she was forced into prostitution in downtown streets, Honolulu police said. Jason Smith, 22, allegedly threatened to kill the girl and her family and told her who to solicit for sexual favors and how much to charge, police said in a court affidavit. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Dec/10/ln/FP512100317.html
United States US
“The Ringleader” Luisa Medrano charged with one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor, eight counts of forced labor, one count of alien smuggling and eight counts of harboring illegal aliens. The "Recruiters" These defendants located pretty, young females from villages near Olanchito, Honduras, telling them they would be working in a restaurant in New Jersey. They allegedly handled them off to the smugglers. Those defendants are each charged in this Indictment as follows: • Lourdes Rosales Martinez, 33, of Tejeras, Honduras, in custody in Honduras, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor; two counts of alien smuggling. • Zenia Zunilda Martinez, 56, of Tejeras, Honduras, in custody in Honduras, charged with one count of conspiracy; four counts of alien smuggling. • Nancy Floridalma Rosales Martinez, 34, of Olanchito, Honduras, in custody in Honduras, charged with one count of conspiracy; four counts of forced labor; 10 counts of alien smuggling, and four counts of harboring illegal aliens. The Smugglers or "Coyotes" • Jose Arnaldo Isuala-Meza, 23, of Sonaguera, Honduras (among others not named in the Indictment). The alleged lead "coyote," he smuggled groups of Honduran girls to the U.S.-Mexico border. While traveling with the girls, Isuala-Meza allegedly raped some of them, and, in at least one instance, left a 14-year-old alone in the Mexican desert, when she scratched him and fought while she was being raped. Isuala-Meza is being sought in Honduras. He is charged with one count of conspiracy and seven counts of alien smuggling. • Elsa Consuelo Isuala-Meza, 44, of Houston, Texas (Jose Isuala's sister), met some of the girls in Houston and arranged for their transportation to the New York area. An arrest warrant is outstanding for Isuala-Meza; she is charged with one count of conspiracy; seven counts of alien smuggling and two counts of harboring illegal aliens. The "Enforcers" These defendants imposed the rules and work on the victims, collected smuggling fees and were responsible for much of the abuse as described in the Indictment. • Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, 29, of Union City, arrested in February 2005 in Tennessee, remains in custody. She is charged in the Indictment with one count of conspiracy, 10 counts of forced labor, seven counts of alien smuggling and 10 counts of harboring illegal aliens. • Ana Luz Rosales Martinez, 37, of Union City, arrested in January 2005 in New Jersey, remains in custody. She is charged in the Indictment with one count of conspiracy, nine counts of forced labor and seven counts of harboring illegal aliens. • Jose Dimas Magana, 40, of Union City, arrested in February 2005 in Pennsylvania, remains in custody. He is charged in the Indictment with one count of conspiracy, 10 counts of forced labor, four counts of alien smuggling and 10 counts of harboring illegal aliens. • Rosalba Ortiz, 34, of Union City, arrested today. Ortiz is charged in the Indictment with one count of conspiracy, six counts of forced labor and four counts of harboring illegal aliens. Charges and Penalties Count One: Conspiracy to Commit Forced Labor Offenses, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Two through Eleven: Forced Labor, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts 12 through Twenty-One: Alien Smuggling, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts 22 through Thirty-One: Harboring Illegal Aliens, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
United States US
Fricman Alexander Ramirez (24) Carlos Castillo Rodriguez (37) German Garcia (43) Maria Adelfa Letrado (57) (madam of the ring) Aztlan Jaimes Santana Rolando Hernandez *both Santana and Hernandez told the judge in their hearing that they did not understand that their actions were wrong. The judge said that he could possibly have understood this if they had only been in America for a couple of months. They had been here over 7 years.
United States US
John "Big John" Butler 47, William "Pookie" Hornbeak 34, Jamine "Fresh" Lake 27, Kristen "Princess" Land 28, Andre "Dre" McDaniels, Ronnie "Pimpin" Presley 35. Presley is from Wichita KS. All have now been arrested. Presley evaded authorities several times, including after being "cornered" but was finally arrested in Aug. Presley would kidnap victims at gun point on the streets of Wichita KS and take them to Houston. He threatened their families and would beat them up regularly. The traffickers have been charged with "a hefty load of federal crimes, including sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force and the transportation and coercion of minors". http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/08/largest_prostitution_ring_hous.php
United States US
United States v. Boehm, et. al. (Alaska). On March 19, 2004, an 18-count indictment was returned against Josef F. Boehm, charging him with conspiring commit sex trafficking of children, possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Boehm pled guilty on November 22, 2004, to child sex trafficking and drug charges. As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit his residence and also to provide $1.2 million in a trust fund for the future benefit of the victims. Boehm was sentenced on May 10, 2005, to 11 years and 3 months of incarceration to be followed by five years’ supervised release.
United States US
Prostitution ring busted By Sara Jean Green Seattle Times Eastside bureau Chinese army deserters, frequent-flier sex workers, massage-parlor madams and even a customer with diplomatic immunity were among the players swept up in a Bellevue prostitution bust, which could lead officials to similar rings in cities across the country. Bellevue police released details of the prostitution investigation yesterday, more than three months after the first of two Bellevue massage parlors was raided. Nine people — three men and six women — were arrested on suspicion of prostitution, money laundering and forgery. The investigation by Eastside detectives and federal agents was kept quiet until now to give officials time to investigate connections with other cities, said Bellevue police spokesman Michael Chiu. In December, Bellevue police and a host of state and federal agencies began receiving phone calls and letters from legitimate massage therapists who complained of strangers coming to them and requesting sex acts in exchange for generous "tips," Chiu said. The complaints prompted detectives with the Eastside Narcotics Task Force and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to launch an undercover investigation. Two businesses — Dragon Springs, at 13251 N.E. 20th St., and Heaven & Earth Massage, at 10224 N.E. 10th St. — were put under surveillance and police followed the business operators to their homes, Chiu said. After a three-week undercover investigation, detectives raided Dragon Springs on March 11, arresting two female workers, both illegal immigrants from mainland China, along with the owner and madam, Chiu said. Six weeks after the Dragon Springs bust, Eastside detectives raided Heaven & Earth Massage on April 22 and arrested five people, including two men who apparently had deserted China's People's Liberation Army, Chiu said. So far, one man, the 35-year-old owner of Heaven & Earth Massage, has been deported to China, said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle. Immigration proceedings are under way against a 33-year-old Portland man and a 44-year-old Bellevue woman, but Winchell declined to comment on the status of their cases, except to say both have "bonded out" of custody. Except for two women who were arrested and released, the other people who were arrested were booked into the King County Jail and later posted bail. Two of the nine people arrested are U.S. citizens, Chiu said. Three women were arrested on suspicion of prostitution, a misdemeanor charge; the others could face multiple felony charges, including permitting prostitution, promoting prostitution, money laundering and forgery, he said. No charges have yet been filed. Police not only raided the businesses but searched the main players' homes and seized bank accounts, netting close to $90,000, Chiu said. Expensive cars and boats, thousands of dollars in cash, and so-called "little black books" containing phone numbers of contacts around the country were also seized, he said. Officers also found evidence that the people in charge wired significant amounts of money overseas, Chiu said. In both cases, detectives discovered that sex workers were flown to Seattle and immediately shuttled to the massage parlors; the women would perform sex work for two or three weeks before flying to a new location, Chiu said. The women, who had to pay their own airfare, weren't allowed to leave the parlors and, at Dragon Springs, they were even locked in, Chiu said. Both parlors operated in the same way: When a customer arrived, the customer would pay a $60 massage fee to the "house" and then "tip" the female worker — usually between $40 and $100 — in exchange for sex acts, Chiu said. Immigration officials are still trying to determine how a number of the people arrested arrived in the U.S. in the first place, said Winchell, the ICE special agent. "Human trafficking in the sex trade is alive and vibrant, particularly in the Northwest," Winchell said. Investigators don't believe the female workers busted in Bellevue were sex slaves. Their participation in the sex ring was more akin to "voluntary indentured servitude," he said. As for the men who frequented Dragon Springs and Heaven & Earth Massage, Chiu said they're not off the hook for their conduct. That is, he said, with one exception: Police don't have authority to arrest one man, who has diplomatic immunity. Chiu didn't know what country the man is from. "The customers of these massage parlors might possibly be contacted by police later on — they should be looking over their shoulders," Chiu said. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20040618&slug=prostitution18e
United States US
Mariluz Zavala and her husband Jose Ibanez recruited and smuggled over sixty Peruvian nationals (including children) to the US. The couple charged a smuggling fee that ranged from $6,000 to $13,000, and found the victims work, forcing them to then give them all their wages earned each week. The couple used the money to purchase real estate and pay their own living expenses. The victims were forced to work in Amityville, Brentwood, and Coram, New York.
United States US
Mariluz Zavala pleaded guilty (November 5, 2004)of forced labor; conspiring to recruit, harbor, transport, house undocumented workers; engaging in extortionate credit transactions and transferring false alien registration cards of 69 Peruvians. Zavala and Jose Ibanez (co-defendent/husband) sheltered these immigrants into one house with squalid & cramped living conditions, 13 of who were minors, and used the earned money of the workers to pay for the mortgage of their three houses. They forced the victims to pay $6,000 to $13,000 for their smuggling fees.