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Human trafficking

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NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds
Nj-based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds TD Bank has agreed to pay about $3 billion in historic penalties after its relaxed policies allowed criminals to launder their money, authorities said. The Canadian bank with U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to not maintain an anti-money laundering program that complies with the Bank Secrecy Act, filing inaccurate currency transaction reports, and laundering money, the Justice Department said in a news release on Thursday, Oct. 10. TD Bank will pay more than $1.8 billion to resolve the DOJ's investigation and $1.3 billion in a penalty f…

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by Chris Spiker
News
Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth
Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated Juneteenth by announcing a historic initiative in an effort to improve racial justice in New Jersey. The governor signed an executive order on clemency at Saint James AME Church in Newark on Wednesday, June 19. The order establishes standards for people to receive expedited consideration for pardons and commutations. Gov. Murphy said the goal is to fix the racial inequalities that have existed in the criminal justice system. "As we celebrate Juneteenth and reflect on our nation’s ongoing journey toward racial justice for Black and Brown …

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI
Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI A Hudson County man admitted sharing sexual videos on the dark web that he got from a minor who subsequently committed suicide, federal authorities said. Authorities arrested Julio Albery Nunez, 27, West New York, for posing as a teenage girl to get an underage boy to send him video of himself masturbating and urinating for money, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. That particular boy wasn’t the only one, records show. Nunez admitted that he “communicated electronically with several other minors and requested and received sexual content from them, including one minor victim who ultima…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge A child porn trafficker from Middlesex County got a minor to perform online for him, federal authorities charged. Francisco Villafane, 37, of Perth Amboy, initially lost contact after he began texting with the youngster in 2020, but they resumed communication in late 2023, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Villafane "exchanged sexually explicit content with the victim and solicited explicit material...including videos of the victim engaging in sexual acts at Villafane’s request," the U.S. attorney said. Members of his Newark Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force ch…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year
NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year A Monmouth County educator who was named New Jersey's teacher of the year could also get the same recognition nationally. Joe Nappi, a history and social studies teacher at Monmouth Regional High School in Tinton Falls, is one of four finalists for the 2024 National Teacher of the Year award, The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced. Nappi won the state's Teacher of the Year award in September 2023. The other finalists are Cat Walker from Alaska, Christy Todd from Georgia, and Missy Testerman from Tennessee. Nappi is the third Garden State educator to be a nati…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
SEEN HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive SEEN HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive
Seen HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive New Jersey authorities turned to the public for help Tuesday finding a retired New Jersey corrections officer who fled before he was stand to trial on charges of paying for sex with a trafficked minor. Kurt Young, 56, of South Dennis Township, was briefly jailed before being released following his arrest on Jan. 28, 2020, records show. Two co-defendants took pleas and got 15 to 20 years in state prison in exchange. Meanwhile, Young -- who investigators said was positively identified by the 14-year-old victim -- skipped out during jury selection for his trial in Cape May County las…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years UPDATE: A New Hampshire man who recorded himself having sex in the back seat of his car with a 12-year-old child at the Jersey Shore must spend the next 20 years in federal prison. Scott Wilkinson, 39, must serve out the entire plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Twenty years means 20 years. Wilkinson traveled nearly 400 miles from Concord, NH to Egg Harbor Township -- just outside Atlantic City -- to have sex with the child, the FBI said. He recorded it and uploaded the video from his phone to a Google Drive account, which was linked to his home…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment
Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment An ex-con who was captured after a 15-year-old victim escaped from a South Jersey hotel room was indicted on a host of charges that include human trafficking, promoting prostitution and sexually assaulting minors, authorities announced on Thursday. Nieem Johnson, 40, whose last known address was in Philadelphia, was arrested in Atlantic City last Aug. 31 following a months-long state investigation, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. A second victim was rescued during the arrest, Platkin said in a Jan. 18 release. “The allegations in the indictment – holding two victims in a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
South Jersey Man Admits Selling Lethal Dose Of Heroin: Prosecutor South Jersey Man Admits Selling Lethal Dose Of Heroin: Prosecutor
South Jersey Man Admits Selling Lethal Dose Of Heroin: Prosecutor A 44-year-old man from Atlantic City — already serving a 60-year prison sentence — has admitted to selling a fatal dose of heroin, authorities said. Tahir Gregory pleaded guilty to first-degree drug-induced death stemming from Gregory’s distribution of a lethal dose of heroin to 31-year-old victim, M.E. Gregory admitted to knowingly selling heroin to the victim which ultimately led to her death on July 2, 2017. The sentence will be run concurrent to the 60-year state prison sentence he is currently serving after being convicted by an Atlantic County jury earlier this ye…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison
Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison A married Passaic County couple who operated a sex trafficking ring that raped, beat and branded women with the husband's name while he was in prison have been sentenced for their crimes, authorities announced. Enna Gonzalez, 58, was sentenced to a plea-bargained four years in federal prison last Thursday, July 6, by U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark for crimes that one federal official said “defy humanity.” Her husband, Jean “Poison” Noriega, 52, also took a deal from the government and was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea, U.S. Attorn…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Woman Forced Into Prostitution In Atlantic City By NYC Pair: Police Woman Forced Into Prostitution In Atlantic City By NYC Pair: Police
Woman Forced Into Prostitution In Atlantic City By NYC Pair: Police A woman was forced into prostitution in Atlantic City by a pair from New York City, authorities said. On June 17, at 10:09 a.m., Atlantic City Police Officers Corey Treadway and Tahsin Hossain responded to a motel in the 3000 block of Pacific Avenue for a report of human trafficking.  The officers spoke with an individual who reported that they believed a woman was being forced into prostitution.  The officers contacted the occupants of a motel room. After speaking with the victim, the other occupants in the room, Colin Sherwood and Jamy Mathis, were arrested, police said. An i…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Atlantic City Pimp Sentenced To 60 Years Prison For Human Trafficking: Prosecutor Atlantic City Pimp Sentenced To 60 Years Prison For Human Trafficking: Prosecutor
Atlantic City Pimp Sentenced To 60 Years Prison For Human Trafficking: Prosecutor A 44-year-old man from Atlantic City has been sentenced to 60 years in New Jersey State Prison for human trafficking, authorities said. On Tuesday, April 11, Tahir Gregory was sentenced, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, and must serve at least 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. Gregory was originally charged on Sept. 29, 2017, with the human trafficking and promoting prostitution of two women. The remaining convictions for promoting prostitution will run concurrent to the other charges for a five-year New Jersey State Prison sentence, the prosecutor sai…

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by Jon Craig
News
CLIMATE OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics CLIMATE OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics
Climate OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics A Jersey Shore doctor must pay $642,212 to two undocumented women from India whose true identities she hid for eight years while harboring them as unpaid domestics, federal authorities said. Harsha Sahni, 66, of Tinton Falls, also must cover $200,000 worth of treatment of a brain aneurysm that one of the women suffered while they worked in her and her family's homes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Federal prosecutors required the payments as part of a plea deal that allowed Sahni to avoid the potential consequences of a conviction at a trial, the U.S. attorney said. In exchange, S…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, NJSP, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, NJSP, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools
Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, Njsp, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools New ways of targeting and stopping human trafficking will be discussed by an elite group of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities in Newark on Wednesday, Jan. 25. U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Phillip R. Sellinger, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark Special Agent In Charge Ricky J. Patel and Ali Boak, the director of the Global Center on Human Trafficking, will be among the speakers at the unique news media event. They will discuss joint efforts at fighting human trafficking by giving law enforcement at all levels the necessary tools – including a new mobile app and…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Prostitutes Testified Against Human Trafficking Pimp: Atlantic County Prosecutor Prostitutes Testified Against Human Trafficking Pimp: Atlantic County Prosecutor
Prostitutes Testified Against Human Trafficking Pimp: Atlantic County Prosecutor A 43-year-old Atlantic City man has been convicted on prostitution and human trafficking charges, authorities said. Tahir Gregory was charged on Sept. 29, 2017 with the human trafficking and promoting prostitution of two women, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Of the course of the two-week trial, the two victims identified Gregory as their pimp over a period of time, the prosecutor said. The defendant would use their addiction to heroin against them, the prosecutor said.  He went so far as to attempt to control one of the victims from the county jail…

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by Jon Craig
News
Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It
Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It A Jersey Shore man admitted recording himself sexually assaulting a young girl who authorities said was under 8 years old. FBI agents zeroed in on Christian Importuna, 27, of Englishtown, when he tried trading the videos with what turned out to be an undercover detective in March 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. One of the videos shows a girl who appears less than 8 years old giving him oral sex, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court says. In the other, he is rubbing the crotch of a sleeping child who may be the same girl, it says. FBI investigators “linked the videos to…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized
Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized An undercover detective had just entered a Fairview massage parlor when an employee stripped naked and listed the prices for oral sex and intercourse, authorities said. The investigator was part of a joint task force that took down what authorities said essentially were two “full service” brothels operating as massage parlors just blocks apart. Members of the federal Homeland Security Investigations’ Human Trafficking Unit seized two women on potential immigration violations, Fairview Police Detective Lt. Michael Martic said. Four other women were busted by borough police, the lieutenant…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking
NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking A 57-year-old man killed last week in a construction accident at a Hindu temple in South Jersey had been accused of human trafficking, police said. The unidentified man was found unresponsive when police arrived at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple on North Main Street in Robbinsville around 3:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, authorities said. The Hillside resident was pronounced dead at the scene, located behind the temple where curbing was being installed, according to police. Further details were not immediately released. The FBI raided the temple in May 2021, around the time a law…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says
Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says Customers bought poker chips to have sex with an underage girl and women who were forced into prostitution against their will by a human trafficking ring that operated out of Monmouth and Mercer counties, authorities said. New Jersey State Police watched 10 men enter a Hudson Street home in Trenton through the back door and then exit 15 to 20 minutes later one January night, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. A man then came out and locked the gate, the attorney general said. A search-warranted raid later that night included members of the State Police T.E.A.M.S. Unit, K-9 Un…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies 11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies FBI agents based in New Jersey teamed up with local, county and state authorities to rescue five sexually exploited teenagers who were among hundreds of victims located or identified during a two-week nationwide blitz. The New Jersey joint FBI operation with State Police, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and police from Newark, Jersey City and Morris Township was part of a nationwide enforcement campaign dubbed “Operation Cross Country.” Across the United States, similar operations the first two weeks in August identified and located a total of 84 minor victims of child sex traffickin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Eight Arrested In Sex Trafficking Ring Linking Central Jersey To Mexico: State Police Eight Arrested In Sex Trafficking Ring Linking Central Jersey To Mexico: State Police
Eight Arrested In Sex Trafficking Ring Linking Central Jersey To Mexico: State Police New Jersey State Police have arrested eight suspects for allegedly operating a sex trafficking network in Central Jersey. During a four-month investigation, detectives discovered that the suspects smuggled female victims into the country and forced them into prostitution, State Police said. On Jan. 21, detectives from the State Police Missing Persons & Human Trafficking Unit obtained information that a juvenile was being trafficked out of a residence on Hudson Street, in Trenton, they said. Later in the day, detectives along with members of the State Police T.E.A.M.S. Unit, K-9 Unit, C…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
PA Man Who Sex Trafficked 15-Year-Old Girl Learns His Fate PA Man Who Sex Trafficked 15-Year-Old Girl Learns His Fate
PA Man Who Sex Trafficked 15-Year-Old Girl Learns His Fate A Philadelphia man who sex-trafficked a 15-year-old girl was sentenced Monday, June 6 to 17 to 40 years in state prison, authorities said. Andrew Hall, 29, pleaded guilty on Feb. 28 to a slew of charges, including human trafficking of a minor, statutory sexual assault of a minor, promoting prostitution of a minor, and photographing child sex acts, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. Hall was arrested on Aug. 21, 2020, when Bensalem police officers were called around 12:30 a.m. to the Best Western on the 3400 block of Street Road on a report of child prostitut…

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by Nicole Acosta
News
NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (SENTENCING) NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (SENTENCING)
NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (Sentencing) A mom and three accomplices were sentenced to a combined 67 years in prison for sexually abusing the woman's 7-year-old daughter to make "amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish" pornography in the child's New Jersey home, authorities said. Marina Volz (aka Matthew Volz, 32), Ashley Romero (aka Adam Romero), 28), Sean Allen, 54, and Dulcinea Gnecco, 21, were sentenced by Somerset County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Tober on Friday, May 6,  Acting Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said. The investigation into the four began in January 2019, when an anonymous caller contacted the New Jersey Divis…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Queens Livery Driver Who Travelled To Cape May For Sex With Underage Girl Gets 19½ Years Queens Livery Driver Who Travelled To Cape May For Sex With Underage Girl Gets 19½ Years
Queens Livery Driver Who Travelled To Cape May For Sex With Underage Girl Gets 19½ Years A livery driver who traveled more than 300 miles roundtrip between his Queens home and Cape May for sex with an underage girl was sentenced to 19½ years in federal prison. Richard Gabriel Piedra Ordonez, 37, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Piedra pretended to be 19 when he began communicating with the under-16 girl on Snapchat and other social media and messaging platforms, U.S. Attorney Phillip Sellinger said. Over the next several months, by his own admission, Piedra drove to New Jersey for sex and twice…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey
Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey Police are seeking the public's help identifying a woman whose body was found at a park in Central Jersey. The New Jersey State Police Missing Persons & Human Trafficking Unit and the Carteret Police Department said the woman's body was found at the Waterfront Park in Carteret. State Pollice released a sketch of what the woman would look like. Anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Sean Gusrang of the State Police Missing Persons & Human Trafficking Unit at 609-882-2000 x 2554 or email him at sean.gusrang@njsp.org. Anonymous tips are welcome. No other details were releas…

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by Jon Craig
News
GOTCHA! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport GOTCHA! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport
Gotcha! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport A fugitive from Bergen County wanted for running a massive sex-trafficking ring in North Jersey, Rockland and New York City was captured trying to re-enter the United States from Colombia, authorities confirmed. Birmania “Nancy” Rincon, 62, a Colombian national living in Teaneck, was among the ringleaders of a crew that forced dozens of women into prostitution, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. She was in the wind, however, when authorities seized 21 defendants during a series of early-morning raids at 19 homes and other locations in Bergen and Hudson counties exactly two weeks ag…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor
Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor A 49-year-old man from Pennsylvania has been sentenced to 10 years in New Jersey state prison for human trafficking and failing to register as a sex offender, authorities said. Michael Tedesco, of Reading, admitted transporting women to motels in South Jersey to engage in paid sexual encounters that he arranged and then keeping a portion of what they earned for himself, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina. Tedesco pleaded guilty in December to first-degree human trafficking as well as third-degree failure to register as a sex offender for an unrelated offense, Coffina sa…

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by Jon Craig
News
Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio
Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio An underage girl who'd been reported missing was rescued from a trio of South Jersey human traffickers who were prostituting her, authorities said. Marquise Ogawa, 28, Chyaire Lee, 26, and Jazmin Scott, 21, all of Lawnside, were being held in the Camden County Correctional Facility in Camden, charged with various child prostitution, trafficking and endangerment counts. The victim was reported missing out of Voorhees in late October of last year, Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck and New Jersey State Police Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan said in a joint release Tuesday. Detectives fro…

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by Jerry DeMarco