“The victims of modern slavery have many faces. They are men and women, adults and children” - President Obama

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February 28, 2010 Alvin Robertson   Authorities have busted up a sex-trafficking ring accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl to have sex with men throughout San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Linked to the ring is former Spurs guard and four-time NBA All-Star Alvin Robertson. Seven people allegedly are tied to the ring, including an R&B performer and a man charged with bribing an official at Kelly USA, a business park at the former air base. Of the seven, Robertson — who played for the Spurs from 1984 to 1989 and was a one-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year ...read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/85505537.html

8/10/10  Two people have been charged for the alleged sex-trafficking of a 15-year-old mentally challenged girl.  According to the Cook County State's Attorney's office, Cornelius Mondane, 45, and Shermille Patterson, 41, both face charges of Involuntary Sexual Servitude of a Minor and Trafficking in Persons for Forced Labor or Services.  Police first observed the victim while on routine patrol around midnight on Aug. 6. The victim was dressed only in a bra and fishnet stockings, flagging down vehicles near the 4700 W. 5th Street. Officers approached the victim, whereupon she identified Mondane, who was standing nearby, as her pimp.  Officers stopped the defendants in a vehicle near the scene, where they found the victims clothes inside the vehicle.  The victim told officers that she was recruited by Patterson about three weeks prior to the incident. The victim aslo told officers the defendants would pick her up from her home and drive her to the West Side of Chicago to perform sex acts for money. The defendants would take all of the money the victim earned and provide her with marijuana and alcohol, according to the victim. She also told police that the defendants provided her with a cell phone and clothes to wear while she worked for them. The victim's cell phone was found to have Mondane's number programmed into it. The defendants were arrested and appeared in court over the weekend, where bail was set at $150,000 for Petterson and $250,000 for Mondane. Preliminary hearings are set to begin for both defendants Aug. 23. If convicted, they face a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Ex-Justice Tills given prison term in sex case:  Federal judge calls women real victims

August 08, 2009, 6:36 AM
Phrases like “human trafficking” and “sex trade” bring to mind tough, brutal images that are hard to believe about anyone. When the accused is a well-respected judge, a jurist known for tough sentences, it becomes what his own attorney acknowledged Friday is a long fall from grace. Ronald H. Tills, 74, a retired State Supreme Court Justice, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday, becoming the first person given jail time in connection with the continuing federal probe of the Royal Order of Jesters. “I will never forgive myself for the possible harm I’ve caused to the victims in this case,” Tills told a packed courtroom. “I’m embarrassed, and I feel terrible about the shame I’ve brought to the bench and the bar.” In sentencing Tills, U. S. District Judge William M. Skretny referred numerous times to victims in the case and at least twice mentioned one young woman by name. “Coco is a real victim in this case, and regrettably, she’s not the only one,” the judge said at one point. Skretny described Coco as an illegal immigrant who barely spoke English and was sold into sexual slavery as a young woman. Coco, he added, was transported by Tills across state lines to serve as a prostitute at a Jesters convention in Kentucky. The judge admonished Tills for victimizing a member of what he described as the most vulnerable subset of illegal aliens, “the undocumented women involved in the sex trade.” The judge also chastised Tills for engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman who had appeared before him when he was still a judge and then recruiting her to work as a prostitute at a Jesters convention. “I view, and I think society views, this as particularly disgraceful,” Skretny said. He referred to Tills as a “real Jekyll and Hyde” and suggested the former judge and state assemblyman had not shown the level of remorse Skretny would have liked to have seen from him. Tills pleaded guilty last September to a felony charge of transporting prostitutes across state lines. He also admitted that, while still serving as a state judge, he recruited prostitutes for a number of Jesters weekend outings, known as “books.” “He knows what he did was reprehensible,” said Terrence M. Connors, one of Tills’ lawyers. “He knows he’s disgraced that robe.” Tills’ legal problems began in late 2007 when federal agents found out that a judge and a police captain were among the customers of a Niagara County massage parlor that hired illegal aliens to work as prostitutes. The massage parlor probe— conducted by the Western New York Human Trafficking Task Force — led to an investigation into the Buffalo Jesters chapter and its use of prostitutes. In urging the judge to give Tills 18 months, federal prosecutor John Rogowski told the judge his ruling would affect the public’s view of the judiciary. Rogowski also urged the judge not to be blinded by the emotional aspects of the case and to remember that what Tills did was a serious crime. Tills will begin his 18-month jail term on Oct. 1 at a federal prison yet to be determined. Two other Jesters — John Trowbridge, 62, a former Lockport police captain, and Michael Stebick, 61, Tills’ former law clerk — were previously sentenced by Skretny. Trowbridge was put on probation for two years. Stebick was given four months of home confinement and had to forfeit his motor home, which was used to transport prostitutes over state lines, to the government. Connors, in seeking leniency from Skretny, stressed that Tills had helped federal agents with information about prostitution activities involving several other Jesters chapters in other cities. So far, no charges have been filed against anyone outside the Buffalo chapter. “He’s given them inner workings,” Connors said. “This group of sordid individuals, which has done what it’s done for years, has stopped. They’re out of business.” In May, a national spokesman for the Jesters told The Buffalo News that the presence of prostitutes at Jesters gatherings is something that only the Buffalo chapter engaged in, adding that such conduct is never condoned by the national leadership. The all-male organization — which is a division of the Freemasons— has 191 chapters with 22,000 members, mostly in the United States. The fraternal group’s members have included two U. S. presidents, politicians, entertainment figures and prominent businessmen. Some former Jesters told The News that many Jesters chapters have engaged in wild parties with prostitutes for decades. Tills, who previously served as a member of the State Assembly, was known by colleagues and defense attorneys as one of the region’s toughest sentencing judges before he retired from his job as a state judge in 2005. The human trafficking task force includes investigators from the FBI, U. S. Border Patrol, U. S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and the Erie and Niagara County sheriff’s offices.
pfairbanks@buffnews.com and dherbeck@buffnews.com

Three Plead Guilty to Sex Trafficking of Children

San Diego, CA - United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that today the Honorable Larry A. Burns, U.S. District Court Judge, accepted the guilty pleas of Jordan Arnold, Christopher Black, and Jessica King to one count of Conspiracy to Engage in Sex Trafficking of Children, and one count of Coercion and Enticement of a Juvenile into Prostitution. The latter count carries a minimum mandatory sentence of ten years in custody.
In their pleas, the defendants admitted to being members of a 2007 conspiracy by recruiting, persuading, and employing juveniles to perform acts of prostitution. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tenorio, who is prosecuting the case with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the defendants admitted that, in order to reap a financial benefit, they enticed juveniles to work as prostitutes between August 15, 2007 and October 11, 2007.  Black and King admitted that they took photographs of the juveniles wearing lingerie and in provocative poses, which were then placed in ads posted on the “Craigslist” website to solicit dates. The dates, however, were prostitution “johns” who responded to the advertisements and made arrangements to have sex with the juveniles in exchange for payment. Arnold and Black admitted that they drove the juveniles to and from hotels in the Mission Valley and Sports Arena areas of San Diego, where the juveniles performed the pre-arranged acts of prostitution. Arnold and Black also admitted that they collected for themselves all of the proceeds the juveniles received in exchange for acts of prostitution. Sentencing for Jordan Arnold and Jessica King is scheduled for March 30, 2009, and for Christopher Black on April 13, 2009, both are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. before Judge Larry A. Burns.
DEFENDANTS Case Number: 08CR0274-LAB
Jordan Arnold Age: 21 San Diego, California
Christopher Black Age: 21 San Diego, California
Jessica King Age: 20 San Diego, California
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Count 1 Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371, and 1591 (conspiracy to engage in sex traffickingof children)
Maximum penalty: 5 years in custody; 3 years of supervised release; $250,000 fineCount 4 Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2422(b) and 2 (coercion and enticement of juvenilesinto prostitution)
Minimum penalty: 10 years in custody (where victim has not obtained18 years of age)
Maximum penalty: life in custody; 5 years of supervised release; $250,000 fine
AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
San Diego Police Department
 

http://calcoastnews.com/2010/03/paso-couple-arrested-for-human-trafficking/

A Paso Robles couple was arrested Tuesday morning by FBI agents, charged with smuggling Filipino nationals into the United States and forciing them to work at the four elder care homes the couple owns.  According to a federal affidavit, the indentured laborers “worked 24-hour shifts; did not receive regular days off; slept in hallways, garages and closets; and had their passports confiscated” by Max Morales, 44, and Melinda Morales, 46.  The Morales own four assisted living facilities in Paso Robles, including the Meadows, Meadowlark, Starling Residential Care and Irene’s Board and Care.  Investigators say the pair lured Filipino nationals from the Philippines with promises of legitimate work and a better life.  Max Morales lent Filipino nationals between $3,000 and $8,000 to pay a smuggling service as well as the cost of their air fare. Morales would charge his indentured servants interest on the money he had spent bringing them to Paso Robles.  Upon the arrival of his indentured servants, Morales would confiscate passports until debts were repaid. For more than a year, one caregiver worked unpaid for Morales while all of her wages, $1,000 per month, went to paying off her debt.  According to the affidavit, Morales ordered his caregivers to follow his rules:  -    Workers are not to talk to neighbors or the family members of residents.
-    Workers should not take public transportation because of police checkpoints throughout Paso Robles.-    Workers are not to go against the Morales because they are powerful and wealthy people who could make trouble for their families. -    Workers should lie to Social Service representatives and tell them that two caregivers worked with each six patients during the day when actually only one caregiver was available.  Federal agents were notified when two of the forced laborers confided their situation to family members of one of the residents.  Max and Melinda Morales were charged with knowingly and intentionally concealing, harboring and shielding illegal aliens within the United States. The charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of ten years in federal prison, per alien.

 A Florida man has been arrested in San Diego on suspicion of meeting a teenage girl over the Internet and luring her to Southern California with the promise of making her a show-business star. Instead, she worked as a prostitute in Las Vegas, Orange County and Los Angeles, authorities said. Christopher Tyrone Young, 28, also known as "Staydown,"  is charged with placing ads on Craigslist to find prostitution clients for the 17-year-old in Anaheim, Montclair, Los Angeles and Pomona, authorities said. The girl was arrested by  Los Angeles police March 24 on a prostitution charge.Police then alerted the FBI that the girl was a runaway from Florida, according to court documents.Young also allegedly had sex with the girl and gave her the drug Ecstasy, according to court documents. The criminal complaint was filed in federal court in Santa Ana.If convicted, Young faces up to 10 years in prison. --Tony Perry     Photo: Christopher Tyrone Young
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/04/my-entry-1.html

By JULIANA BARBASSA (AP) – 4/14/10  OAKLAND, Calif. — A woman convicted of luring a Peruvian to the United States with promises of job then confiscating her travel documents and forcing her to work for no pay was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday.  Maribel de la Rosa Dann was found guilty of forced labor and related charges for keeping Zoraida Pena-Canal enslaved as a household servant from summer of 2006 to the spring of 2008. Dann, a real estate agent in the affluent suburb of Walnut Creek, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised released, and ordered to pay $123,740 in restitution for back wages not paid. Pena-Canal has a civil case pending in which she is seeking to recover the costs of her labor, emotional distress and other damages.The victim did not want to speak in court, but in a written statement she told others who might be enduring similar circumstances, "Do not be afraid and do not be ashamed. Seek help and fight for the justice you deserve."Attorneys and advocates said that while the public may be more familiar with human trafficking victims who are forced into prostitution, cases of forced labor like Pena-Canal's are also widespread."This case accurately captures the face of human trafficking now, as we see it in contemporary society," said Kathleen Kim, a professor at Loyola Law School specializing in human trafficking.According to court testimony, Pena-Canal cared for Dann's children and did other household chores from early morning to late at night without breaks, while sleeping on the living room floor and eating food rationed by her employer. She was not allowed contact with her family or access to news. Dann's attorney, Jerome Matthews, asked the judge to consider probation and community service in lieu of prison time, saying his client had to care for her young children. "The care of her children is the primary animating principle of everything she stands accused of," he said. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken dismissed his request, and ordered restitution to start as soon as possible, calling on the defendant to liquidate her assets to start giving Pena-Canal the money she is owed. Dann apologized in court to Pena-Canal, saying, "It was never my intention that things turn out like this." Pena-Canal was able to escape when people in the neighborhood — a gardener and parents of children in the elementary school attended by Dann's children — noticed she always appeared disheveled, wearing the same clothes, and upset. They contacted police and eventually La Raza Centro Legal, a San Francisco immigrants' right nonprofit.  The defendant's attorney asked for leniency, arguing that Dann's treatment of Pena-Canal pales in comparison to other cases involving sex and cheap labor. Kim said cases like Pena-Canal's have been harder to prosecute because the coercion is psychological, not physical or legal. But two years ago, an amendment to the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act — the first comprehensive federal law for prosecution of traffickers — clarified that threats to a person's reputation, their family and other forms of psychological pressure also amount to coercion, Kim said. The prison sentence in this case is also an important message to other victims, the public, and to law enforcement, said Cindy Liou, staff attorney with Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, a San Francisco Bay Area organization that works with victims of human trafficking.  "We can't do our work here if the public doesn't recognize who might need assistance, what trafficking could look like in their communities," she said.

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   “Life’s most urgent question is “What are we doing for others?”
                              Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.