TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: child trafficking

  • MySpace pimp facing federal charges

    MySpace pimp facing federal charges

    Feds hit MySpace pimp suspect with child sex trafficking charge:

    I’ve posted about Malvin Parker Jr. before. He’s the guy from California who was arrested for allegedly pimping out an underage girl he groomed on MySpace. Well, he just found himself in a whole new world of trouble. He’s now looking at 10 to life on federal charges of sex-trafficking children.

    The federal government has an interest in the case because Parker allegedly enticed the victim, a 16-year-old runaway from Washington state, across state lines through MySpace, a social networking site. Federal law prohibits using “force, fraud or coercion” to get a minor across state or national boundaries to engage in a “commercial sex act.”

    As the kids say these days…Oh snap!!!

  • Boston juvenile prostitute

    Boston juvenile prostitute

    Link (Second story down)

    A Braintree man is in hot water after allegedly pimping a young girl on the Internet, police say.

    According to the police report, the girl advertised herself as a prostitute on Craigslist. Police set up a sting to apprehend her.

    A plainclothes cop met the girl on West Seventh Street Tuesday morning, and noticed she was accompanied by two males who waited for her in a car.

    The juvenile allegedly offered to provide sex to an undercover officer for $175. After agreeing to the price, the cop placed the girl under arrest for prostitution while nearby cops confronted her companions.

    Joseph Venezia of Braintree was charged with deriving support from prostitution, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and driving with a suspended license.

    Damon Isles of Charlestown, the passenger, was arrested on drug charges, police said.

    But it’s a victimless crime and these girls want to be prostitutes right? Give me a break.

  • Runaway teens pimped out on craigslist

    Runaway teens pimped out on craigslist

    Police: Runaway NW teens forced into selling sex on Craigslist:

    Here are some more of those victims that prostitution supposedly doesn’t have…

    The case of a runaway Beaverton girl led to a string of arrests in an Internet prostitution investigation over the past three months.

    The case netted several arrests and runaway teens from the Northwest between May and the end of August, according to Beaverton Police.

    Detectives following the report in May of a runaway 15-year-old from Beaverton were led to Los Angeles, where they found the missing girl with 25-year-old Deandre Travon Green of Aloha. Investigators said Green had forced the girl into prostitution through the L.A. Craigslist Web site.

    Information developed in the case led officers to the Extended Stay Hotel on Eider Ct. in August. There they found a 21-year-old woman and a 16-year-old reported runaway from Seattle, both were charged with prostitution, police said.

    A week later, detectives found two girls reported as runaways from Portland and Gresham. The 15- and 17- year-old girls were arrested along with 22-year-old Quentin G. Lewis, who was charged with possession of crack and outstanding warrants.

    But I’m sure the 15-17-year-olds wanted to be prostitutes, right?

    Give me a break.

  • Alleged pimp pleads not guilty

    Alleged pimp pleads not guilty

    MySpace pimp suspect pleads not guilty:

    I originally posted about Melvin Parker Jr. here. He’s the 32-year-old California “man” who is accused of luring a 16-year-old girl over MySpace into prostituting for him. He has pleaded not guilty to pimping the girl out.

    The case began last month when San Rafael police saw the girl trolling for sexual customers in the Canal Area. The girl, a runaway from Washington state, told police she arrived in the Bay Area on Aug. 3 to see a man she had met on MySpace.com, the social networking site. After she arrived, the man threatened to harm her family if she did not work for him as a prostitute.

    Working with police, the girl arranged to meet the man at Burger King in the Canal area. Police arrested Parker when he showed up.

    Yet, he pleaded not guilty. Criminals never fail to crack me up.

    Parker is due back in court on October 9th.

  • A politician finally notices craigslist

    A politician finally notices craigslist

    Mayor rips craigslist over child prostitution:

    Finally, a politician has noticed the wretched hive of scum and villainy that craigslist has become. And if anybody knows anything about scum and villainy, it’s the mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin. (That was a dig against the city, not necessarily the mayor.) Anyway, she has come out against craigslist accusing them of being facilitators of child prostitution.

    “Children are being marketed through craigslist,” Franklin said Tuesday during an update on the mayor’s “Dear John” campaign, a crackdown on the city’s child prostitution industry.

    Craigslist, found on the Web at craigslist.org, may be best known as a bulletin board for people who want to sell a car, buy a home or meet people. But Atlanta vice officer Kelleita Thurman said Tuesday that craigslist and similar sites account for 85 percent of the sexual liaisons men arrange in Atlanta with boys and girls.

    In a letter sent Tuesday to the company, Franklin said the site could do more to prevent itself from being used “as a means of promoting and enabling child prostitution.” She called on the site to revise its warning on pages for erotic services and personal ads and to remove postings that offer sexual services for sale, among other things.

    As usual, craigslist had their same non-answers…

    Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mail that she and Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster are in Europe and “neither of us are aware of such a letter so it would not be possible to comment about this.”

    Company founder Craig Newmark, who also was mailed Franklin’s letter, no longer is involved in the company’s daily affairs and is traveling, Best said.

    Maybe this is the first step in politicians recognizing what a crime-filled scumhole craigslist’s erotic services section is.

  • MySpace used to lure girl into prostitution

    MySpace used to lure girl into prostitution

    Man charged with using MySpace to lure girl into prostitution:

    32-year-old Melvin Charles Parker Jr. of Richmond, California was arrested for using MySpace to lure a 16-year-old girl into prostitution.

    Once the girl arrived in town, police stopped her on the street for questioning when it appeared she was trying to find customers. She told police Parker threatened her into prostitution.

    “He told her that he wanted her to prostitute herself, or his friends would look up her family and hurt them,” said Margo Rohrbacher, a spokeswoman for the San Rafael police.

    Police said they told the girl to call Parker, and listened in as he gave her instructions on where to meet him to deliver her earnings. He was arrested when he arrived.

    I couldn’t find a MySpace for Parker. But if you needed another reason why kids should not be posting their personal info online, this is it.

  • More underage prostitution on craigslist

    More underage prostitution on craigslist

    FBI investigates allegations of underage prostitution on Craigslist:

    More allegations of underage prostitution on everyone’s favorite website of scum and villainy, craigslist. Two girls out of Sacramento, California, ages 14 and 17, were found to have had ads on craigslist’s “erotic services” section.

    The affidavit describes the “erotic” ads as facilitating communication between prostitutes and clients, complete with code words calling the prostitutes “providers” and the clients “hobbyists.”

    The Sacramento site’s erotic offerings include many women posting images of their genitals and listing prices for half-hour and hour-long sessions. One ad depicts a pregnant woman, posts a phone number and offers to show callers that “pregnant women do it better.”

    The affidavit indicates that the underage girls allegedly photographed by Moore show the 14-year-old girl nude and touching herself suggestively. The 17-year-old’s ad offers various styles of sex and promises: “I will guarantee to fulfill all your naughty fantasies.”

    As usual, craigslist had a non-answer.

    The Sacramento case is the latest to focus legal scrutiny on Craigslist and prostitution ads on the highly popular Internet site. Craigslist has been linked in news accounts to prostitution stings from New York City suburbs to Chicago to Seattle. The company did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

    I wonder why? 🙄

  • Teen prostitutes uncovered in Chicago

    Teen prostitutes uncovered in Chicago

    Women charged with offering girls for sex:

    I’ll give you 3 guesses of which website they were advertising on. I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with gregslist.

    Cook County Sheriffs in Illinois conducted a Craigslist prostitution sting which resulted in finding prostitutes ages 14, 15 and 16-years-old. Those charged in separate incidents were Tamara Cotton, 25, who was charged with keeping a place of prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and one count of pimping and child endangerment. Christina Holt, 19, who is charged with keeping a house of prostitution. Holt’s boyfriend, Montrell Knight, 34, who was storing guns and drugs for the Gangster Disciples, was charged with nine counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, armed violence, and three drug-related charges.

    The teen prostitutes themselves are not being treated as criminals, and Cook County is trying to get them help.

    So what does craigslist have to say about this?

    Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in an e-mail Thursday that illegal activity is prohibited on the site, and that the erotic services page is intended for use by “legal escort services and sensual massage providers.”

    “It was added at the request of our users, who wanted these ads separated from our general personals categories,” he wrote. “We appreciate and are fully cooperative with law enforcement efforts.”

    Legal escort services and sensual massage providers? Take it from someone who grew up in a town rife with prostitution, there is no such animal as “legal” escort services and sensual massage.

    Once again, craigslist is turning a blind eye to illegal activity on their site. They say that they’re fully cooperative with law enforcement, but it seems to me that it’s after the fact.

    Thanks to Tim for the link.

  • Child prostitution booming on craigslist

    Child prostitution booming on craigslist

    Online Child Prostitution, An Alarming Trend:

    This is an article from a Sacramento, CA news station about how child prostitution is proliferating due to the internet…

    (CBS 13) SACRAMENTO FBI agents say child prostitution is moving off the streets and onto the information superhighway. Sacramento Special Agent James Harris said sex peddlers have gotten tech savvy.

    “They figure if pedophiles can entice online, that’s their business, that’s what they do, said Harris.

    Harris says they set up profiles on MySpace or Yahoo to recruit and entice underage girls. Then they advertise them on the internet–through addresses like redbook.com, a bay area erotic services site, or legitimate places like Craigslist, where you can find a car, rent an apartment or an “erotic service.”

    “They’re advertised as of age when you look closer they’re not, said Harris.

    The face is usually cut out or covered in a way so the age is hard to tell and so that law enforcement can’t track them down. Agent Harris says most turn out to be reported missing and runaways.

    The only way to make money is to prostitute. A lot are beginning to see this is a safe way to do it than on the streets, said Harris.

    Hundreds pop up on Craigslist every day in Sacramento. Why the capital city? Harris says it’s a crossroads between Seattle, L.A., San Francisco and Reno, where I-5 and I-80 meets.

    Agent Harris admits these cases are tough to prosecute. Those who post the listings are hard to track down, in some cases out of the country. But the FBI says as their crime scenes shift, they’re investigating child sex for sale with more mouse than muscle.

  • More pimpin’ on craigslist

    More pimpin’ on craigslist

    Oakland Man Indicted For Pimping Teens On Web:

    OAKLAND — An Oakland man — captured after a footchase on a Las Vegas street — has been indicted on charges he used using various Web sites, including Craigslist, to prostitute two girls under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    Prosecutors said a federal grand jury in Oakland has indicted 34-year-old Marcus Sewell Aug. 10 on charges of sex trafficking of children and transporting minors in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

    According to the indictment, Sewell is alleged to have prostituted the two teenage girls and transported them from Northern California, Nevada and Florida for the purpose of prostituting themselves between April 2005 and June 2006.

    The indictment alleges that Sewell advertised the girls as escorts on Craigslist and other Web sites.

    The maximum sentence for sex trafficking of children is life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

    The maximum sentence for transporting a minor in interstate commerce with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity is 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

    This is no less than human trafficking and should carry more than just a life sentence and $250K fine. How about life without parole and a $2.5M fine?