We monitor and fact-check media coverage of human trafficking and share the top cases with you from each week. A broad view of what is happening across the country can be translated into action, allowing us to collectively change the system and the public narrative.
Media typically portrays child sex trafficking as commercial sex, but the reality is far more vast. Sex trafficking of children can include pedophilia, sex with a minor, or child pornography – particularly devastating as the internet gives these traffickers an accessible avenue for their crime. Nevada Texas Woman Convicted Of Child Sex Trafficking in Las Vegas From August 2018 to September 2018, Demecia Shontres Washington, of Dallas, conspired with co-defendant Jimmy David Washington Jr., 35, of Lubbock, to recruit and coerce a child to engage in commercial sex acts and to produce child pornography. They transported the child from Texas to New Mexico and Nevada to engage in prostitution.LouisianaHouma woman jailed for human trafficking; sex with juvenile The suspect, 39-year-old Angela Lirette, created a profile posing as a teen girl and contacted several teenage males. During some of these online conversations, she sent nude photos of the female juvenile to these boys; furthermore, Lirette scheduled dates for the boys to meet a minor without her knowledge. The juvenile was forced into sexual encounters by Lirette.Maryland2 young girls rescued from suspected sex trafficking in Ocean City The 14-year-old girl told police that she and the 13-year-old managed to run from the hotel room where two potential traffickers locked them. Suspects are from Honduras and have been living in the US illegally. GeorgiaMan Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Trafficking On October 5, 2016, Demetrius Hunter aka Red came across the victim, a 15-year-old female, at the Bridgeview hotel in Macon, Georgia. The day prior, the victim had run away from a group foster home. Hunter told the victim that they were traveling the world and she would have to make money. The victim did not understand at that time how she would be expected to make money.TexasBelton man arrested in Waco prostitution of a minor sting James David Dominguez, 42, responded to an ad on a website known for human trafficking, believing he was communicating with a woman engaging in prostitution. A sheriff’s office detective who was communicating with Dominguez told him there was also a 16-year-old girl he could engage in sexual acts with. TexasA man accused of human trafficking in a sting at Citrus Park hotel Last month our federal partners in Tampa requested analytical support for the case against Muldrew of Houston. We are proud to say that yesterday, Muldrew was federally indicted for human trafficking. This case was brought as part of the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force of the Middle District of Florida, one of 13 such task forces in the country to receive grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Task Force is a collaboration of local, state, and federal law enforcement agents working together with organizations to detect, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. We often have a predisposed idea of what a trafficker looks like, and sometimes it isn’t what we think. Sometimes the exploiters are high-powered or well-known members of our communities who use their names and power to control and exploit victims.Two More Women Sue Bassnectar for Sexual Abuse, Human Trafficking This lawsuit is about seeking justice not just against Bassnectar but against the corporations that cooperate in and help facilitate the abuses he is alleged to have committed.Virginia Five charged after Christiansburg investigation into massage parlor ‘illicit sexual activity’Five people were charged after search warrants were executed at three Christiansburg massage parlors as the result of a three-month investigation into complaints of “illicit sexual activity.”Texas Constable Investigators Arrest Suspect For Prostitution At A Spring Massage ParlorInvestigators entered the spa posing as customers and were offered sex acts for a fee by an unlicensed employee, Lien Hsiang-Chen. As a result, Lien Hsiang-Chen was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail, charged with Prostitution.Wisconsin Democrat Ron Kind’s Building Housing Massage Parlor Was Previously Busted by Law Enforcement Democrat Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) claimed, without evidence, that “racism” was behind concerns that a building he owns that now houses a seedy massage parlor, but newly resurfaced newspaper reports from the 1970s and 1980s indicate there is proof the location previously was busted by law enforcement for running a “house of prostitution.”Missed seeing us at @SXSW? Check out our CEO, Rochelle Keyhan, explain how we use our expertise and innovative technologyto work with professionals in the field to even the playing field against traffickers. Last week, our team of experts headed out to Laredo and Brownsville in Texas to train local experts along the border on best practices in their fight against trafficking.Alongside partners Detective Joseph Scaramucci, Human Trafficking Information, and survivor leader Allie Franklin, we help law enforcement understand how to identify sex and labor trafficking operations, pursue data-driven investigations, and target both traffickers and buyers, all while adopting a trauma-informed, culturally-competent approach to victims. Our team was invited to share their expertise with over 15 agencies in the more rural areas of the Rio Grande Valley.JOIN US >>
We monitor and fact-check media coverage of human trafficking and share the top cases with you from each week. A broad view of what is happening across the country can be translated into action, allowing us to collectively change the system and the public narrative. 
Media typically portrays child sex trafficking as commercial sex, but the reality is far more vast. Sex trafficking of children can include pedophilia, sex with a minor, or child pornography – particularly devastating as the internet gives these traffickers an accessible avenue for their crime. Nevada Texas Woman Convicted Of Child Sex Trafficking in Las Vegas From August 2018 to September 2018, Demecia Shontres Washington, of Dallas, conspired with co-defendant Jimmy David Washington Jr., 35, of Lubbock, to recruit and coerce a child to engage in commercial sex acts and to produce child pornography. They transported the child from Texas to New Mexico and Nevada to engage in prostitution.Louisiana Houma woman jailed for human trafficking; sex with juvenile The suspect, 39-year-old Angela Lirette, created a profile posing as a teen girl and contacted several teenage males. During some of these online conversations, she sent nude photos of the female juvenile to these boys; furthermore, Lirette scheduled dates for the boys to meet a minor without her knowledge. The juvenile was forced into sexual encounters by Lirette.Maryland 2 young girls rescued from suspected sex trafficking in Ocean City The 14-year-old girl told police that she and the 13-year-old managed to run from the hotel room where two potential traffickers locked them. Suspects are from Honduras and have been living in the US illegally. Georgia Man Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Trafficking On October 5, 2016, Demetrius Hunter aka Red came across the victim, a 15-year-old female, at the Bridgeview hotel in Macon, Georgia. The day prior, the victim had run away from a group foster home. Hunter told the victim that they were traveling the world and she would have to make money. The victim did not understand at that time how she would be expected to make money.Texas Belton man arrested in Waco prostitution of a minor sting James David Dominguez, 42, responded to an ad on a website known for human trafficking, believing he was communicating with a woman engaging in prostitution. A sheriff’s office detective who was communicating with Dominguez told him there was also a 16-year-old girl he could engage in sexual acts with. Texas A man accused of human trafficking in a sting at Citrus Park hotel Last month our federal partners in Tampa requested analytical support for the case against Muldrew of Houston. We are proud to say that yesterday, Muldrew was federally indicted for human trafficking. This case was brought as part of the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force of the Middle District of Florida, one of 13 such task forces in the country to receive grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Task Force is a collaboration of local, state, and federal law enforcement agents working together with organizations to detect, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. We often have a predisposed idea of what a trafficker looks like, and sometimes it isn’t what we think. Sometimes the exploiters are high-powered or well-known members of our communities who use their names and power to control and exploit victims.Two More Women Sue Bassnectar for Sexual Abuse, Human Trafficking This lawsuit is about seeking justice not just against Bassnectar but against the corporations that cooperate in and help facilitate the abuses he is alleged to have committed.
Virginia Five charged after Christiansburg investigation into massage parlor ‘illicit sexual activity’ Five people were charged after search warrants were executed at three Christiansburg massage parlors as the result of a three-month investigation into complaints of “illicit sexual activity.”Texas Constable Investigators Arrest Suspect For Prostitution At A Spring Massage Parlor Investigators entered the spa posing as customers and were offered sex acts for a fee by an unlicensed employee, Lien Hsiang-Chen. As a result, Lien Hsiang-Chen was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail, charged with Prostitution.Wisconsin Democrat Ron Kind’s Building Housing Massage Parlor Was Previously Busted by Law Enforcement Democrat Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) claimed, without evidence, that “racism” was behind concerns that a building he owns that now houses a seedy massage parlor, but newly resurfaced newspaper reports from the 1970s and 1980s indicate there is proof the location previously was busted by law enforcement for running a “house of prostitution.”
Missed seeing us at @SXSW? Check out our CEO, Rochelle Keyhan, explain how we use our expertise and innovative technology to work with professionals in the field to even the playing field against traffickers. Last week, our team of experts headed out to Laredo and Brownsville in Texas to train local experts along the border on best practices in their fight against trafficking. Alongside partners Detective Joseph Scaramucci, Human Trafficking Information, and survivor leader Allie Franklin, we help law enforcement understand how to identify sex and labor trafficking operations, pursue data-driven investigations, and target both traffickers and buyers, all while adopting a trauma-informed, culturally-competent approach to victims. Our team was invited to share their expertise with over 15 agencies in the more rural areas of the Rio Grande Valley.
JOIN US >>