Human Trafficking News

Two Utah men, woman face child sex trafficking cha...

Apr 2, 2020 | Awareness, Utah

Nonprofit offering online training to parents, tee...

Mar 31, 2020 | Awareness, Florida

Former Portsmouth city councilman Michael Mearan d...

Mar 27, 2020 | Awareness, Ohio

Coronavirus threat isn’t stopping sex trafficking in Jacksonville

Apr 9, 2020 | Awareness, Florida

With Covid-19 going on, human trafficking isn’t stopping in Jacksonville, Florida. A news team in Jacksonville spoke with a woman who is currently living in a hotel and said she is working to keep food on the table and a roof over her head. The woman said she’s worried about running into serial killers and rapists. Advocates for sex-trafficking victims contend that there’s a growing demand for the sex trade despite the risks posed by coronavirus.

Delta Donates Tonnes Of Unused Food

Apr 8, 2020 | News, States, Survivors

Amid the COVID – 19 pandemic, Delta airlines has donated over 200,000 pounds of food so far in 2020. Delta sent food to hospitals, food banks, and other organizations worldwide to support the front-line workers. Several organizations include: Feeding America, Georgia Food & Resource Center and the Carthage Crisis Center in Missouri.
The donation includes both perishable and non-perishable goods. In Nice, France, Delta donated to a nonprofit called MIR and donated meals and coffee. MIR has been known to provide survivors of human trafficking free meals and shelter.

This isn’t just a Milwaukee issue’: New report examines where sex trafficking happens and where victims are from

Apr 7, 2020 | Awareness, Wisconsin

A new study in Milwaukee shows most of the city and identified hot spots where the crime occurred. From 2013 through 2016 the study examined 340 people ages 25 and younger were confirmed to have been victims of sex trafficking in Milwaukee. 88% of the victims were from the Milwaukee area and 3% were out of state. Although the research was from six years ago, experts believe the information still hold up to be true. Some of the areas are hot spots for other crimes as well.

Sold up and down the East coast: hidden world of sex trafficking moves close to home

Apr 6, 2020 | Awareness, States, Survivors, Vermont

In 2018, Polaris reported the highest number of sex trafficking survivors in the United States was 243, their ages ranged from 15-17 years of age. In 2018 the numbers reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline illustrated that 7,126 women were trafficked and 2,378 minors were trafficked.
Jasmine’s story is featured in this article. Jasmine Grace was 19 when she met an older man. After graduating from cosmetology school, the trafficker sold Jasmine to men around the East Coast for five years.

Deputies: Three men lured 12-year-old girl to DeWitt motel for sex using social media

Apr 3, 2020 | Awareness, New York

Three men are facing a series of human trafficking charges, rape charges in the state of New York. The three men lured a 12 year old to a motel for sex. Detectives say the men used social media to recruit the child. All three have been arrested and are being held without bail at the Onondaga County Justice Center. They found the child in the motel room alone.

Two Utah men, woman face child sex trafficking charges

Apr 2, 2020 | Awareness, Utah

In Salt Lake City Utah, two Utah men and a woman who was convicted of murder previously, now face charges forcing two teenage girls into human trafficking. The three traffickers face multiple felony counts for human trafficking of a child. One of the men also face a charge of unlawful sexual contact. One of the victims met the men after she walked away from juvenile services custody.

News: Perpetrators

Federal jury convicts man for sex trafficking in D.C., Maryland

Mar 18, 2020

58-year-old Kenneth Wayne Hart has been convicted in a federal drug and sex trafficking case for prostituting women in the District and in Maryland and using the Internet to advertise, according to federal prosecutors.
He was also found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking along with sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. Hart ran a prostitution business that recruited women to engage in sex acts. supplied the women with heroin and crack cocaine and threatened to withhold drugs.

3 Arrested In Wayne County Human Trafficking Case

Mar 16, 2020

North Carolina
On Monday, March 9, special agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and investigators with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a residence located in Goldsboro associated with an ongoing human trafficking investigation.

Karen Lynn Anderson, 47, was arrested on Monday, March 9, 2020, and charged with one count of human trafficking of an adult victim. William Henry Thornton, 76, charged with one count of attempted first-degree forcible rape. Jeffrey Leon Harding, 48, charged with one count of possession of firearm by felon, one count of possession of a stolen firearm.

Ware man sentenced for sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of a minor

Mar 2, 2020

BOSTON – 74-year old Walter Brown was sentenced to 15 years on Friday in federal court in Springfield on sex trafficking and sexual exploitation charges.
On Oct 11, 2019, co-defendant Claire Poole was sentenced to 10 and a half years (125 months) in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and two counts of sex trafficking. Poole moved to the Springfield area in early 2017 and later helped Brown have sex with a teenage girl.

Female pimp sentenced to 50 years for trafficking 16-year-old, forcing her into prostitution in Houston area

Feb 24, 2020

Houston, TX. Prosecutors were able to convince a judge to sentence Marilyn Joy Wilkes to 50-years in prison after Wilkes forced a 16-year old girl into sex trafficking for a month.

News: Survivors

Delta Donates Tonnes Of Unused Food

Apr 8, 2020

Sold up and down the East coast: hidden world of sex trafficking moves close to home

Apr 6, 2020

Steven Mayer and Valiant Consultants: A Shining Knight For Victims Of Sex Trafficking

Mar 30, 2020

Steven is the co-founder CEO of Valiant Consultants, a US-based firm that offers automation services for Amazon and helps survivors of sex trafficking. Each time an Amazon store opens with Steve’s team, 5% of profits go to Amazon partners that help prevent and work toward stopping sex traffickers. Steve has opened over 600 stores and has given back thousands of dollars to survivors of sex trafficking.

Making candles — and a difference: Memphis company helps sex trafficking victims

Feb 3, 2020

Leah Gunn, has recently escaped sex trafficking after being trapped for nearly two decades, Leah is now working part time at RE+NEW+ALL, candle company in Memphis, TN, is providing survivors of sex trafficking the opportunity to have a new purpose. “In its earliest form, RE+NEW+ALL was not a business — it was art therapy.” Survivors are able to work part time and work on their goals whether it is reconnecting with a loved one or going back to school to get a G.E.D. Although, severe thunderstorms in January flooded their studio, their inventory was saved.
To learn more about RE+NEW+ALL and what they are doing in Memphis visit their website at https://www.renewallcandle.com/

News: Politics

Hawley introduces bill to document scope of human trafficking in America

Feb 17, 2020

A law passed by Congress in 2005 mandated that the Justice Department provide research, statistical review and analysis of severe trafficking of persons every two years in order to know the scope of the problem. Unfortunately, only one was ever done, in 2009.
This new bill will mandate that a comprehensive national study on human trafficking will be conducted every two years there will be statistical information available to the public to see as well as help experts in human trafficking to learn how human traffickers are currently operating and how to stop them. Kevin Malone, president of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, said that these national studies “would be a tremendous help because a lot of people don’t believe the problem exists.”

Trump signs executive order to combat human trafficking as some advocacy groups boycott summit

Feb 3, 2020

Washington, D.C.
“The anti-trafficking community received a major shot in the arm this morning with President Trump’s announcement,” said Lance Lemmonds of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking. “President Trump has committed more federal resources and more national focus on combating the systematic buying and selling of our nation’s kids than any administration in history.”
On January 31, 2020, “Trump signed an executive order Friday creating a position within his domestic policy team dedicated solely to fighting human trafficking. The order proposes an additional $42 million in funding for service programs and prosecutions…The order also establishes a federal working group on housing for trafficking survivors and a website listing the government’s anti-trafficking resources.”

Cuomo Vetoes Bill That Would Train Public Transportation Workers To Spot Human Trafficking

Dec 26, 2019

New York Senator Alessandra Biaggi noted that “human-traffickers rely heavily on public transportation to move their victims, in plain sight, across the country.” In his veto memo, Cuomo noted that the New York Interagency Task Force Against Human Trafficking already offers a training that “meets the minimum requirements” outlined in Biaggi’s bill.

Hillsborough forms Commission on Human Trafficking

Dec 10, 2019

Weeks after a human trafficking sting netted more than 100 arrests in Hillsborough County, FL. commissioners took a step Wednesday to eradicate forced labor, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation within its borders.