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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