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Las Vegas community leaders discussed efforts to fight human trafficking in the community during a “fireside chat” Wednesday at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Rape Crisis Center (RCC), which serves all of Clark County, launched its Resources and Integration for Survivor Empowerment or RISE program in January and assisted 72 human trafficking victims through the first six months of 2020.
Of the 72 victims served by the RCC, 58 were sex trafficking victims and 33 were labor trafficking victims, with some clients experiencing both forms of exploitation.
Las Vegas, Nevada– “Between 1994 and 2007, almost 1,500 minors appeared before a Las Vegas judge for prostitution-related charges, yet law enforcement arrested just 435 pimps between that same period.”
Las Vegas, NV– A fourth man was arrested as part of Monday’s online prostitution sting aimed at combatting the online sexual exploitation of children. Each was apprehended on suspicion of attempting to solicit a 15-year-old girl for prostitution. The arrests unfolded during a sting carried out by an FBI Child Exploitation task force.
Two residents in Reno, Nevada have pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sex trafficking. The man and woman that were charged orchestrated the sexual exploitation of a child last summer. The investigation was led by the FBI’s Northern Nevada Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The hearing is set for June 3rd.
A las Vegas man was arrested on sex assault after police say he solicited a child for sex
on a dating app. The 44 year old man was charged with four felonies including soliciting child for prostitution, sex assault, first-degree kidnapping, and facilitating sex trafficking for a victim who is under the age of 18. The victims grandmother reported her missing and she found her iPad that showed she was talking to the 44 year old. The girl, who was described as under 14, told the man if he wanted to have sex it would cost $5 and gave him her address. The man said he was driving a silver Malibu.
In Las Vegas, Nevada Lyft drivers are learning the signs of human trafficking and how they can assist if they suspect victims are riders. Nevada is number 10 in the total number of human trafficking cases in the U.S, around 5,600 victims of child sex trafficking in the state. Lyft has partnered with Business Ending Slavery and Trafficking and the Dressember Foundation to train the drivers. Lyft wants to effect a positive change and build and maintain a safe community.
North Las Vegas, NV resident Jacques Anton Lanier, known as John Dupree, made an initial court appearance Tuesday, Jan. 7, after being charged on 15 counts of child sex trafficking, tampering with a witness and other crimes.
The Metropolitan Police Department has a human trafficking task force that includes the department’s vice unit; law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels; Refuge for Women, the Rape Crisis Center, Seeds of Hope and a network of survivors who meet monthly to discuss how best to assist human trafficking survivors in the valley.
A former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer Kirk Hooten, 51, told detectives he used to work for vice and that he still “cat-called” women in the area to see their reactions. He said he regularly visited the intersection to hire sex workers.
Finding new and innovative ways to combat the demand for purchased sex, raise awareness to this nationwide epidemic, and provide safe environments for victims.