In 2018 in Minnesota, the National Human Trafficking Hotline was contacted 314 times and 120 human trafficking cases were reported, according to the hotline website. Anderson said Elk River’s proximity to the highways makes it likely that there is trafficking activity in and around the city.
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“The fact that this brothel was active in two cities, in bustling shopping centers open to the public, and in broad daylight is a testament of what these traffickers will do for money,” said Washington County Attorney Pete Orput in a written statement. “Our office will continue to aggressively prosecute these cases to achieve justice for the victims with no voice.”
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One of the victims told investigators with the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force that she was being sold for sex by 39-year-old Joseph Troy Horton. She also stated he was selling a second woman for sex too.
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Terrance D. Nordwall, 50, of Faribault, MN, exchanged text messages with a Homeland Security Investigations agent, who he believed was a “pimp” for two girls, ages 14 and 15. Nordwall agreed to pay $200 for a half hour with the two girls, drove to Iowa, and there he was met by law enforcement officers.
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A man washes dishes in the back of a diner. A teenage girl waits in a car parked at a rest stop. And a woman leans against the gleaming wall of a hotel lobby. None of these scenes appear out of the ordinary—but the dishwasher isn’t getting paid, the teenager isn’t waiting for a parent to finish pumping gas, and the woman isn’t entering a room by choice.
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Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said: “This kind of conduct, particularly juveniles, is simply unacceptable in the state of Minnesota and frankly everywhere. “She was a juvenile at the time. We have special laws to protect our juveniles, and we are going to enforce them.” The girl was reportedly given front-row VIP seats to one of Kelly’s performances after the incident and when her brother asked how she got the tickets she revealed what happened.
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–3 people were arrested for sex trafficking, promotion of prostitution,
–8 people were arrested for solicitation of a minor or solicitation of prostitution under 16 years of age,
–18 trafficking victims were recovered from trafficking situations and offered victim services.
Investigators put Oriental Massage under surveillance, and detectives saw numerous men entering and leaving the Waite Park, Minn. business. They stopped and spoke to customers, most of whom denied engaging in sexual activity. Three men, however, confirmed that after receiving a massage they paid extra for a sex act. The victim said she was made to split profits from performing sex acts 50-50 with Jiang, and worried for her safety.
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Daniel David Ellington, 38, was charged in Washington County on two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of promotion of prostitution, according to a news release Thursday, May 16, from County Attorney Pete Orput.
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Police in Minnesota have arrested 58 people who allegedly attempted to solicit children for sex as a part of a trafficking sting operation staged during the NCAA Final Four Basketball championship. The sting led to the rescue of at last 28 victims of trafficking, including one minor, according to state officials.
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A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for multiple sex trafficking and prostitution promotion charges involving two women, including a juvenile. In June 2017, the woman reported a domestic assault involving Woods because she “refused to post in St. Cloud for prostitution,” according to court documents. Woods was arrested, and the woman described an ongoing abusive relationship with him.
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The Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force has seen roughly as much activity in its first nine months of full-time work as it did in four years of part-time work, according to officials. From April 2018 to the end of December, 62 sex buyers and eight traffickers were charged in Stearns County, officials reported. “I don’t think there’s any case out there that’s more complicated or dynamic than these types of cases in sex trafficking,” said Jeff Oxton, St. Cloud assistant police chief. “And so that’s why we need the dedicated resources.”
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Tuesday, the FBI seized www.supermatchescort.com, the organization’s website, as well as 25 sub sites off that main page and about 500 other domains. A 46-year-old man named Zongtao Chen was the leader of the criminal enterprise. He is a Canadian national living in Toronto, Canada.
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Industry experts say the training is designed to create a level of awareness – especially in suspicious situations. “It’s those things that are out of the ordinary,” said Howard Anderson, a longtime member of the Minnesota Lodging Association. “People are asking for exit rooms, near exits, or they want to pay cash. They don’t want to give their license plates.”
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Sexual exploitation and the buying and selling of our children and vulnerable others “happens here in Duluth every day,” Shunu Shrestha of the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault, or PAVSA, said in an interview a year ago with the News Tribune Editorial Board.
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The five defendants, from California, Texas and Illinois, were convicted in St. Paul, Minnesota on a range of counts including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, money laundering and sex trafficking by use of force, fraud and coercion. Traffickers used phony bank accounts, created fictitious biographies and set up fraudulent marriages to assist the victims in getting visas. The women were forced to have sex with as many as 10 men a day, then told to pay back debts of $40,000 to 60,000, prosecutors said.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines “sextortion” as “a serious crime that occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don’t provide them images of a sexual nature, sexual favors or money.”
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ST. CLOUD — Three men were arrested last week and charged on counts of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct after a sting by local law enforcement, according to Stearns County criminal complaints.
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I’ve been following the story of the international sex-trafficking ring in the papers over the last few months. As horrifying as it is to read about, I’m grateful for the coverage to raise awareness to this tragic phenomenon.
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The last of four defendants involved in an international sex trafficking ring that preyed on foreign-born women in Minnesota has been sentenced for her role in the operation. Sophia Wang Navas, 50, was sentenced in Washington County District Court Friday to twelve and half years in prison on one count of racketeering and a second count of aiding and abetting sex-trafficking.
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A state mandate starting Thursday aims to end sex trafficking in Minnesota through the state’s hotel industry.
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Charging documents state Marquez Domingo Lopez met a 15-year-old and invited her to a party at a Motel 6 in Richfield. However, Lopez reportedly told the girl she could not leave and needed to work to earn money for the room.
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A Brooklyn Park man was charged Monday with forcing a 15-year-old girl to engage in paid sex with 10 to 15 men at a Richfield motel over about a three-day period in January 2017.
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