Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Chai Hock Ng trafficked three women from Indonesia to work in brothels first in Connecticut then in Brooklyn. The victims knew the man as Johnny, who recruited them, saying that for $3,000 the women would receive a falsified visa, a plane ticket, and a restaurant job in New York. After arriving, the women were told they would be working as prostitutes, and threatened with being shot by Ng and several of his friends. The victims were forced to have sex with men, who were charged $140 for 45 minutes, and told that they now owed Ng $30,000 and that he would make arrangements to sell them to brothels in order to collect his money.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Alex Babaev and Asker Memmedov recruited women to come to the US from Azerbajaijan to work as prostitutes. From March 2003 to March 2004 women were forced to work through violence and verbal threats. The victims were told they could keep half of the earning from working, but received none of it, and had their passports taken.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Multiple arrests were made, with 4 convictions to date: *Ronald H. Tills (18 months in prison) *John Trowbridge (two years probation after) *Michael R. Stebick (probation for two years, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and directed to provide 250 hours of community service) *Len Wah Chong (six years in prison, five years supervised release)
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
The trafficker is Harrison "Hardbody" Norris, a former professional wrestler. He has two residences in Cartersville, GA. It is known that he has been running prostitution rings in Atlanta, GA since 2001. Norris, with several partners, operated a scheme where they recruited vulnerable women and promised them that they could train to be professional wrestlers. Instead, the women were held captive, physically abused, held in debt, and forced to perform numerous sexual acts against their will. Norris also had several of the women perform domestic work on his house such as painting and laying sod.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Four women were arrested in connection with a prostitution ring. The women, who were not identified, are in Geauga County Safety Center awaiting a Korean interpreter. Geauga Sheriff Dan McClelland said they are awaiting the interpreter to get the women's names, citizenship status and charges sorted out. One woman was taken to University Hospital's Geauga Health Center for treatment after she suffered an anxiety attack. Sheriff officials launched an undercover investigation after learning that the spa, 8386 Mayfield Road, offered more than massages.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
The trafficker imported Asian women for the use of forced prostitution in the Coure de Lane area.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Ashley was arrested for prostitution, and then emancipated.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Leonard Russell recruited two girls from Nebraska to engage in commercial sexual activity, including prostitution, and to perform at strip clubs. The two victims, ages 15 and 16, were runaways and were harbored by Russell. The victims testified that they met Russell in Omaha, Nebraska on August 20, 2007 after they ran away from a juvenile home located in Fremont, Nebraska. They were recruited to help at 19-year old prostitute, named Marcia Ryan. The victims were then transported to Davenport, Iowa, then Rockford, Illinois, and finally back to Denison, Iowa. They were forced to engage in prostitution and perform at strip clubs, one of which was Big Earl’s Key Club in Denison, Iowa. They were forced to give their earnings to Russell and Ryan to pay for their food, shelter, transportation, and clothes. One victim was with Russell for eight days, and the other for 10 days. Investigations showed that they had been advertised on the internet as prostitutes.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
“Prosecutors said [the trafficker] who has used addresses in Sioux City and Omaha, Neb., recruited and harbored two Nebraska girls [in 2007] for commercial sexual activity, including prostitution and performing at strip clubs. They said the girls, ages 15 and 16, were runaways.” (Fox News) “[The trafficker] took the girls to Davenport and Rockford, IL, and back to Denison, IA, over several days, and had them engage in prostitution and perform at strip clubs, including Big Earl’s Key Club in Denison.” (Iowa Attorney General) “An anonymous tip led police to rescue one of the girls at Big Earl's [a strip club in Denison]. The other was put on a bus to Washington, D.C., to meet with Russell's cousin and learn to solicit sex. Police in Washington rescued her there.” “The girls testified that they engaged in prostitution and performed at strip clubs including Big Earl's Key Club in Denison. They said they had to give the money they earned to Russell and Ryan in exchange for food, shelter, transportation and clothing. The teens testified they were ashamed with what they were doing, but they felt they had nowhere else to go. One of the teens was with Russell for eight days, the other for 10 days, officials said. “[The suspect] was found guilty of two counts of human trafficking, two counts of pandering and a count of ongoing criminal conduct during a September trial in Crawford County. [He] was sentenced [December 22, 2008] in Crawford County District Court to 25 years on the ongoing criminal conduct charge, and 10 years on each of the other four charges — with all the sentences to be served concurrently. He was also fined $5,000.” (Fox News)
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Sardar Gasanov, and his wife Nadira Gasanov recruited women from their hometown of Tashkent, Uzbekistan to come to the US with the promise of modeling jobs and the ability to bring their family to the US after them. Sargar is was a research assistant in the Biological Science Department at the University of Texas at El Paso. The couple got J-1 visas for the victims, which stated they were scientists who would be doing research for the University of Texas at El Paso. Once the women arrived, their immigration documents and passports were taken by the Gasanovs, and they were forced to work seven days a week at strip clubs in El Paso. They were forced to work through threats of deportation and threats against their families, which enticed the women to work hard and give all their earnings to the Gasanovs. It is estimated the couple made over $700,000 from their business from 1998-2001.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Honey's, a strip club in Everett, and several other Puget Sound area clubs owned by the Calacurcio family are the focus of a federal investigation into organized crime. Honey,s, Snohomish County's only strip club, according to federal investigators, is a haven for prostituttion, with dancers blatantly offering sex for money and the clubs owners taking kickbacks from the illegal activities. Federal agents and local police raided the clubs owned by Frank Colacurcio Sr. and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr. Monday morning. No charges have been filed. Instead a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against the clubs' owners prohibiting them from selling off the clubs or their assets. The freeze is part of a ongoing rackateering investigation that alleges the clubs were run by a criminal enterprise according to court papers.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Jerome Todd of Everett, Washington, is arrest and sentenced to 26 years in prison for pimping. The federal judge ordered Todd to pay nearly $70,000 to 3 women who worked for him as prostitutes. A jury in May had convicted Todd, 29, of numerous federal sex-for-sale crimes, including sex trafficking. Jurors were convinced Todd forced women to sell their bodies as part of an Internet-based prostitution ring.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Wun and Kyongja Kang promised victims from Seoul a better life in the U.S. and work in their bar “Renaissance Bar & Room Café” in Flushing. The women were told they would have respectable jobs keeping customers company at the bar and pouring drinks. After arrival, the victims were told they each owed Kang a $10,000 smuggling debt and for their rent. The victims were never paid for their work, and their passports were taken. The victims were told they could work of their debt faster if they preformed sex acts for customers. When they tried to escape they were caught and sexually assaulted.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
74 year old Bernie Hoffman, more commonly known as Tony Alamo, started the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in the late 1990s. The Tony Alamo Christian MInistries have compounds in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Jersey. The Arkansas compound started had 100 followers, and Alamo "preached that young girls made the best wives." Alamo transported five underage girls across state lines for sex. Three out of the five girls openly said Alamo sexually abused them. Among these criminal accounts, since the 1970s Alamo was alleged of "kidnapping, brainwashing, child abuse.."
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
An undercover officer met with Mr. Stump in the Freemont area and had a fairly lengthy discussion on the sale of the child. The terms of it, and the amount involved. Stump paid the officer $500 dollars and arranged to pick up the child later in the day. Officers pulled Stump over on his way home and took him into custody. He told police he intended to take the girl out of state and marry her.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
She is charged with racketeering (class 2 felony), pimping (class 3 felony), tax evasion (class 5 felony), keeping a place of prostitution (class 2 misdemeanor), and promoting sexual immorality (class 2 misdemeanor). She was booked into the Mesa County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Atzlan Jaimes-Santana and Rolando Hernandez-Hernandez were among the eight people charged in the Fall of 2007 as part of a prostitution ring that prosecutors say stretched across the Southeast and involved more than 100 women from Latin America.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Javier RamierezAccording to his plea agreement, Ramirez took the girl to Maryland and Virginia, where she had sex with clients from August 2005 to June 2006. The girl met with at least 25 clients per day, and gave most of the money she earned to Ramirez. She told the clients that she was 20 years old.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
A false promise of a $500-a-week baby-sitting job lured illegal immigrant Marlene Harpi from New York City to Indianapolis in 2001. But when she arrived here, the job turned out to be quite different. Police say Harpi was held in a Westside Indianapolis brothel and forced to have sex with at least 15 to 20 men a day. Two Hispanic teenage girls, who like Harpi had been recruited from New York, were also prisoners of the prostitution ring. Her captors warned her that she would "disappear" if she tried to flee. After three days at the West 16th Street house, Harpi was taken to a duplex on Sherman Drive just north of East Washington Street. There, her sex slavery continued for another three days.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Specifically, the indictment alleges these defendants were involved in the recruitment of Mexican women and girls to travel to the United States with the false expectation of legitimate jobs in bars and restaurants beginning in 1999 and using force, fraud, and coercion to compel their service as prostitutes in their bar and restaurant. The indictment further alleges that in 2003 through 2011, the conspirators changed their tactics and relied upon on the services of pimps to supply minor females and young women for use as prostitutes and to maintain control and prevent escape of the minor females and young women. The Rojas allegedly derived their substantial profits initially by doubling the amount of the smuggling fee charged by smugglers ($2,000 fee became $4,000) which was taken from the earnings of the women. A 3-year investigation into the trafficking of young and minor female Mexican nationals for the purpose of prostitution out of Houston area bars and restaurants through force, fraud, and coercion has lead to the indictment of 10 individuals, including the owner/operators of the La Costeñita Bar and El Club Restaurante, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno announced earlier this week. The 3-count indictment was returned by a Houston grand jury under seal on Tuesday, February 15, 2011. All 10 defendants charged were taken into custody by teams of investigating agents.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
Woodly Gaston. 22 year old Ozone Park, NY manBrown also alleges that Gaston advertised the victim on Craig’s List. The victim, it is alleged, was expected to have sex with approximately 10 men a day and to give Gaston all the money she earned prostituting herself. It is also alleged that during this time, the teenage victim stayed at Gaston’s house, where he had sexual intercourse with her and repeatedly threatened to kill her if she left him or went with another pimp.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
"Three St. Louis-area residents face federal charges of sex trafficking and slavery after being accused of beating and torturing a mentally disabled teen and forcing her to prostitute herself to pay off a relative's debt. The 18-year-old, identified only as “Jane Doe,” may have been held for up to a month, according to a federal court affidavit by FBI Special Agent Cynthia Dockery that became public Thursday. Waquita “Goddess” Wallace, 33, and Richard Marquis Harper, 20, of the 5200 block of Genevieve Avenue, were arrested by FBI agents Wednesday and charged in federal court in St. Louis with sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and sale into involuntary servitude. A woman identified only as “April” also faces the same charges. Wallace and April could not be reached for comment." (from following link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/6C8E07BF00551A458625747B007557F8?OpenDocument)
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
From Seattle Times article 10/11/08 by Mike Carter http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008254413_brothels11m.html: Federal agents have arrested a woman on a charge that she conspired to transport women from Southeast Asia to the Seattle area to work in a string of brothels. Chomphoonut Dongird, also known as "Lisa," was indicted Wednesday by a Seattle federal grand jury on a single count of conspiracy to transport individuals in furtherance of prostitution. The indictment was unsealed following her arrest Thursday. Dongird pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Thieler, who ordered her held pending a detention hearing next week. Trial is set for Dec. 15. The indictment says Dongird has operated a trio of brothels disguised as massage parlors in Kirkland, Bellevue and SeaTac for years, and that she has brought women from Thailand and California to work as masseuses. According to the indictment, the women were required to perform sex acts as part of their employment. In one instance, according to the indictment, Dongird brought a woman from Thailand to the U.S. and then told her she owed $25,000 for her immigration paperwork and travel. The woman was required to work off her debt at the brothels, according to the charges. The indictment also says Dongird arranged "sham marriages" in order to bring women into the U.S. to work at the massage parlors. Dongird brought one woman to Seattle in 2002, where she worked as Dongird's housekeeper and as a prostitute until last month, the indictment says.
Sex Trafficking2008
United States US
The Sex Crimes Unit of the Memphis Police raided the trafficker's apartment and found "cash, receipts, ledgers, gels and body cleaning solutions" as well as condoms.