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Tag: sex trafficking

  • FBI Arrests 150 In Massive Sex-Trafficking Crackdown

    A massive three-day, multi-agency law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 150 people on charges of sex trafficking, according to the FBI. The operation – dubbed Operation Cross Country 7 – was led by the FBI, but involved the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as state and local law enforcement agencies in 76 cities across America.

    The operation also resulted in the rescue of 105 children between the ages of 13 and 17, as well as 129 seizures of cash, guns, vehicles, drugs, and more. The 150 pimps arrested in the sweep face a wide variety of charges on both the state and federal level, relating to the drugs, guns, and, most importantly, sex trafficking.

    Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigation Division, said that a better understanding of the child sex market and of the internet’s role in sex trafficking have a great deal to do with the increased success of this operation. Hosko said that this operation was between 30% and 40% more effective at identifying both the pimps and children involved than previous versions of Operation Cross Country.

    You can see video of the press conference where Hosko announced the operation below:

  • Minnesota Cheerleader Charged For Pimping Fellow Student

    A Minnesota high school cheerleader now faces sex trafficking charges after allegedly playing madam for a younger student.

    According to an Associated Press report, 18-year-old Montia Marie Parker of Maple Grove, Minnesota has been charged with sex trafficking and promoting prostitution. The girl is accused of driving a 16-year-old fellow student to Johns’ houses for oral sex, and is alleged to have received at least $60 from the younger girl.

    Parker allegedly posted the younger girl’s pictures to an ad in Backpage.com, a Craigslist-type site well-known for the posting of sex worker ads. Parker is also accused of posing as the younger student’s mother to remove her from school to visit a John.

    Parker was caught when the younger girl’s mother went through her daughter’s cell phone, after hearing about the girls unexcused absence at school. According to the school district, Parker has been “permanently removed” from the high school. She is scheduled to face her charges in court on June 12.

  • Google Targets Cartels, Sex Trafficking With New Google Ideas Initiative

    Google Ideas, Google’s initiative that “convenes unorthodox stakeholders, commissions research, and seeds initiatives to explore the role that technology can play in tackling some of the toughest human challenges,” is now taking on illicit networks.

    There are many kinds of “illicit networks” operating around the world, most of which have devastating effects on those involved. Things like organ trafficking, sex trafficking, drug cartels, and forced labor rings generate and estimated $2.1 trillion a year, money that is a direct results from the victimization and brutalization of millions of victims.

    Today, Google announced that they are partnering up with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Tribeca Film Festival to gather like-minded individuals and groups for the first ever INFO summit in L.A. “INFO” stands for Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition.

    Here’s what Google has to say in a blog post:

    Too often illicit networks are seen only in the silos of those who study them. This summit aims to break down those silos by bringing together a full-range of stakeholders, from survivors of organ trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor to government officials, dozens of engineers, tech leaders and product managers from Google and beyond. Through the summit, which lasts until Wednesday, we hope to discover ways that technology can be used to expose and disrupt these networks as a whole—and to put some of these ideas into practice.

    Check out this preview video of the event below:

    Google launched Google Ideas about a year and a half ago, and up until now its main focus has been counter-radicalization. Last summer, Google held a summit for former gang members, religious extremists, and other radicals. The result of that summit was Against Violent Extremism, “a network of former violent extremists, survivors of violent extremism, NGOs, academics, think tanks, and private sector executives who share a common goal: to prevent youth from committing violence.”

    You can track the summit as it happens on the INFO 2012 Youtube channel as well as the Google Ideas Twitter account.