Latest Human trafficking News
Football, YMCA volunteer charged with underage sex
BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — A volunteer football coach and YMCA youth advocate has been charged with child rape and sex trafficking, officials said. Kharee Louis-Jeune, 33, of Brockton, faces charges including child rape, trafficking a person for sexual servitude, and...
California launches new anti-human trafficking teams
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California attorney general launched new anti-human trafficking teams to apprehend perpetrators and support survivors on Friday amid an alarming increase in labor and sexual exploitation statewide during the coronavirus pandemic. The state's...
Cranston police shut down suspected illegal massage parlors
CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — A monthslong investigation into numerous reports of suspicious activity at six massage businesses in Cranston has resulted in 11 arrests and uncovered evidence of human trafficking and prostitution, police Col. Michael Winquist said in a news release Friday. ...
R. Kelly nears OK for new legal team for upcoming trial
NEW YORK (AP) — Jailed R&B singer R. Kelly will likely get to keep a new lawyer in his federal sex-trafficking case despite questions about the attorney’s texts and other communications with one of Kelly’s ex-girlfriends. Kelly, 54, is accused of leading an...
2 soldiers accused of smuggling migrants from Mexico
LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A Fort Hood soldier and a Pennsylvania National Guardsman stationed at the Central Texas installation have been charged with smuggling two men into Texas from Mexico. Court records show Fort Hood soldier Ralph Gregory Saint-Joie, 18, and guardsman...
California man gets prison for coercing women for sex films
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A producer for a now-defunct California porn website was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Monday for coercing or tricking women into appearing in sex videos. Ruben Andre Garcia, 31, was sentenced for conspiracy and sex trafficking involving San...
Victim can raise special defense in trafficker's homicide
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee child sex trafficking victim accused of killing her trafficker can argue he drove her to do it, a state appeals court has ruled. Prosecutors have accused 20-year-old Chrystul Kizer of killing 34-year-old Randall Volar III in 2018. They...
Gaetz friend faces sentencing in August, judge accepts pleas
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A central figure in the Justice Department’s sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz will be sentenced in August after a judge accepted a plea deal requiring him to cooperate with prosecutors. Joel Greenberg, 36, pleaded guilty last...
Migrants are warned of smuggling risks on California border
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man alleged to have captained a boat that fell apart and killed three people off the San Diego coast has been indicted by a federal grand jury in what authorities said Wednesday was a growing number of deaths in migrant smuggling attempts along California's border with...
Epstein ex Ghislaine Maxwell loses bail bid for 5th time
NEW YORK (AP) — For a fifth time, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has lost a bid to be freed on bail while she awaits trial on charges she recruited teenage girls for the millionaire Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in...
