Human Trafficking Watch

Alleged Sex-Trafficker Accused of Forcing Young Girls Into Prostitution in New York City:

Federal prosecutors accuse a 24-year-old man of being a violent pimp who forced young girls and women into prostitution in New York City and Long Island.

The suspect was arraigned Wednesday in Brooklyn, N.Y., on sex-trafficking charges that carry a possible life sentence on conviction.

Prosecutors allege that he advertised the services of women between the ages of 15 and 20 on Craigslist.

Court papers state that the women arranged meetings with clients at hotels in Brooklyn, Queens and on Long Island. The girls were paid about $200 for an hour of sex, cash that was then given to the suspected pimp.

FBI agent Evan Nicholas said in court papers that the suspect slept with his prostitutes and threatened them with violence.

It’s always encouraging to know our tax dollars for law enforcement do pay off when a huge bust like this happens. ABC News: Child Prostitution Sting Rescues 47 Children:

In the last three days, the FBI and police from 29 cities rescued 47 children from 73 alleged pimps and more than 500 others who authorities say sought to exploit them. Among those children saved: a 12-year-old from Texas; a 13-year-old from Ohio; and a 14-year-old from Michigan.

“This is organized crime, these people are moving kids from city to city,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “They are involved in 21st century slavery. ? This is a problem that is happening on Main Street USA.”

I would like to see and in-depth follow-up with information on where these children came from and how many of those arrested had some kind of relationship with them, whether it was friends or family or just random.

It’s sad that during the illegal immigration coverage and political debates, human trafficking hardly registers as an issue. So stories like this will continue to be told: FOXNews.com - Teen Girl Allegedly Enslaved, Sexually Assaulted in Seattle - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News:

Five immigrants from Afghanistan enslaved a teenage girl they brought to the United States, with some forcing her to do chores and one ? her 37-year-old husband ? beating and sexually assaulting her, according to a federal indictment unsealed this week.

The girl is from an impoverished single-parent home in Afghanistan, and she was informally adopted by another family there that forced her to marry at age 13 in 2005, Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said Thursday. The girl’s husband is Mohammad Atahee, a friend of the adoptive family; U.S. officials don’t recognize the marriage.

Atahee and three of the family’s members were already living in the south Seattle suburbs when the girl’s adoptive mother, Nasima Yousuf, 70, brought her to the United States in 2006, as part of what prosecutors say was a plot to enslave her. Yousuf’s husband, Mohammad, 84, had filed an immigration petition to bring the girl to the U.S., claiming his wife was her biological mother.

Once in the country, the indictment said, the girl, identified only as JV1, was forced to live with Atahee, who beat her and sexually assaulted her. She was forced to spend at least three days a week at the Auburn home of Maruf Yousufi, 42, and his wife, Nahid, 29 ? caring for their children, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning. Maruf Yousufi is Mohammad Yousuf’s son.

This is a must-read:

Teen recounts horror of sex slavery - TODAY: People - MSNBC.com:

A typical 16-year-old in a middle-class home in suburban Pensacola, Fla., 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.?

From the kansascity.com Crime Scene blog, James Hart posts a press release from  US Attorney John Wood:

Ling Xu, also known as “Cherry,” 46, Zhong Yan Liu, also known as “Lucky,” 36, and Cheng Tang, also known as “Tom,” 22, all citizens of China residing in Overland Park, pleaded guilty in separate appearances this morning before U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan.

Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to coercing persons to travel across state lines and national borders to engage in prostitution and illegal sexual services.

They also pleaded guilty to money laundering by wiring more than $500,000 from the proceeds of that unlawful activity to China. Xu also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for using the passports and identification of her female workers in order to make most of those wire transfers. All three defendants remain in federal custody

The Kansas City Business Journal has more.

Some law enforcement officials have gotten together to give presentations on human trafficking. It’s sad that when I see an article like this, it appears to be Human Trafficking 101 and the narrative is pushed that it’s new to everybody and we need to understand what’s going on.

It’s a brutal form of organized crime that entices young women to come to the United States with promises of legal employment, and traps them in prostitution or forced labor with violence against them and often death threats to families back home, the top prosecutors said.

“The women were all vulnerable, they had all been courted by men,” Milgram recalled of one Brooklyn-based prostitution ring she prosecuted. “There were rapes, there were forced abortions. . . . We characterized some of it as torture.”

“We’re only going to make progress on this . . . by making everyone understand what a big problem this is,” Christie said. “I tell people in law enforcement, “All you have to do is have one of these cases, and you’ll understand.’ “

The AP is reporting that 55 men were arrested after an eight-month-long investigation into an online file-sharing operation:

Fifty-five men, including a former sheriff’s deputy and at least one attorney, were charged with possessing child pornography following an eight-month investigation, authorities said Tuesday.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said the suspects used peer-to-peer networks to exchange graphic images and videos, then stored the files on their computers.

All were charged with possession of child pornography. Some had been charged with additional offenses, such as production of child pornography and committing crimes while registered sex offenders.