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34°
Friday, nov 22
Tag:
Sex Trafficking
Politics
Trump AG Pick Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Consideration Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Facing stiff opposition in the US Senate, embattled former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general. The 42-year-old Gaetz had been the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department involving allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor. "I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday," Gaetz posted on social media early Thursday afternoon, Nov. 21. "I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many. "While the momentum was strong, it is clear that…
Politics
Trump Names Ex
-sec
Chief, PA Native To Replace Damian Williams As
Sdny
's Top Prosecutor
President-elect Donald Trump is looking to replace Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, with a familiar face from his previous administration who hails from Pennsylvania. Trump announced on Thursday, Nov. 14 that he would nominate Jay Clayton, who has no experience as a criminal prosecutor, to be the next US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Clayton, age 58, previously served as Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020, a role in which Trump wrote he "did an incredible job." Before that, he…
News
Maryland Man Withheld Drugs From 'Dopesick' Women Forced To Become Sex Workers: Feds
A 36-year-old Maryland man who used women's' drug dependency to compel them to participate in commercial sex work for him up and down the East Coast is facing prison time, federal authorities announced. William O’Neil Murray III pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 12 to sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion over the course of several months in several states. At least three women were involved. According to court documents, between December 2021 and July 2022, Murray was involved in the multi-state sex trafficking operation, using women he would coerce by using their drug dependency…
News
Philly Man Who Sex Trafficked Child In Bucks, Delco Sentenced:
Usdoj
A 29-year-old Philadelphia man has been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for sex trafficking multiple victims including a minor, authorities said. Kevin L. Smith was sentenced on Wednesday, July 31, according to U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero. The charges stemmed from Smith’s operation of a sex trafficking ring in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, including Bucks and Delaware counties. In September 2019, Smith knowingly harbored, maintained, and advertised a minor, knowing the minor would be caused to engage in sex for money, Romero said. The defendant also o…
Police & Fire
Confessed NJ/Philly Sex Trafficker Who Beat, Threatened Victims Gets 10 Years, No Early Release
UPDATE: A confessed sex trafficker from Philadelphia was sentenced in federal court in New Jersey to 10 years in prison. Mallie M. Evans, 37, must spend at least 8½ years behind bars before he’ll be eligible for release because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Evans “recruited and coerced multiple victims” as prostitutes, shuttling them between Philly and Central and South Jersey, U.S. Attorney For New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. “Evans used fraud, emotional manipulation, physical violence, and threats of death and bodily injury to coerce the victims into engaging in co…
Police & Fire
Monroe County Man Charged With Trafficking In Minors, Prostitution: DA
A Marshalls Creek man is charged with multiple felonies after prosecutors say he tried to pay for sex with a minor. Fred Stevenson, 68, was reported to police earlier this month by a woman who said she "frequently had sex with Stevenson" while "working as a prostitute," the Monroe County District Attorney's Office wrote in a release. She told police Stevenson frequently asked her to "procure" a minor for him to have sex with, according to prosecutors. "The woman then, at the direction of police, introduced the man to her friend 'Gabby' who was the 'mother of a 14-year-old…
News
Raid Of Massage Parlors Nets Another Arrest In Pennsylvania Sex Trafficking Ring: DA
An additional arrest has been announced in a large-scale sex trafficking ring run out of Pennsylvania massage parlors, authorities said. Zigui "Lisa" Zheng was arrested and charged with operating a corrupt organization and dealing in unlawful proceeds, along with related offenses, Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormac said. Significant amounts of cash and other evidence of labor/sex trafficking were found during the raids, he added. Last week, authorities announced the arrest of Min Dong, 54. She was charged for operating corrupt organizations, dealing in unlawfu…
Police & Fire
Update
: Number Of Victims Of Repeat Sex Trafficker Reaches Four In NJ, PA, Authorities Charge
The number of alleged victims of a paroled sex trafficker from New Jersey has reached four, federal authorities said. Amin Sharif, 48, of Newark had been free for a year after serving nearly a decade in federal prison when he returned to pimping women and girls, authorities said. Federal agents seized Sharif on sex trafficking charges in January 2022, and have held him since then, while continuing an ongoing investigation that produced an indictment that cites the additional victims. Sharif "used several social media platforms and profiles to recruit women and minors to engage in sex acts…
Police & Fire
Lehighton Area School Teacher Charged In Human Trafficking Sting: District
A Carbon County teacher faces criminal charges in connection with a sex trafficking investigation, school administrators say. Michael Feifel, a social studies teacher at Lehighton Area High School according to his LinkedIn, "was arrested as a result of a (...) joint investigation of Berks, Northampton, and Lehigh counties," said Dr. Christina Fish, Lehighton superintendent. "The district and Mr. Feifel are cooperating with the investigation," Fish wrote in a message on the district website. "Mr. Feifel is currently not involved in any coaching or teaching over the summer …
Police & Fire
PA Man Who Paid Undercover Officer For Sex With 12-Year-Old Gets Prison Time
A 69-year-old man who paid an undercover officer $400 and then an additional $50 for unprotected sex will be spending time behind bars, authorities in Pennsylvania announced. Jeffrey Fralich, of Lititz, pleaded guilty to five third-degree felonies and one second-degree felony for agreeing to pay for sex with a minor.on Friday, June 30, authorities in Lancaster County said. Fralich was sentenced to 1½ to 5 years in prison plus five years of probation, following the 2022 sting, by Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker. Lancaster County District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force (…
Police & Fire
Trans Pedo Who Made Sadistic Sex Videos Of Daughter, 7, Moved To Infamous NJ Women's Prison
A transgender pedophile who produced sadistic sex abuse videos of her 7-year-old daughter has been housed since last summer in New Jersey's notorious women's prison along with her lover, state records confirm. Marina Volz, 34, originally was processed as a man and sent to serve a 25-year sentence at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton. But a check of state records -- prompted by recent published reports -- found Volz listed at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility along with Ashley Romero, a 30-year-old transgender inmate herself who was convicted of participating in the abuse. New Jerse…
Police & Fire
11 'Johns' Arrested In Sex Trafficking Operation In Central PA
11 "Johns" from 9 different parts of Pennsylvania were arrested in a joint Human Trafficking Investigation with the Pennsylvania State Police, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department, the Hampden Township Police Department, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office. In what was called Operation Impact Demand 4, the men would contact undercover investigators and arrange to trade sex of money at a hotel in South Middleton Township, but when they arrived they would be arrested. Cumberland County District Attorney Seán M. McCormack commented on the arrests stating the following: …
Police & Fire
These Men Showed Up Hoping For Sex With Minors In Undercover OA Sting, Authorities Say
Authorities in Berks County have released mugshots of four of the eight men busted in an undercover operation for trying to have sex with children. The Berks County DA's Human Trafficking Task Force seeded advertisements across "websites commonly used for sex trade," offering "sexual relations with minors at a predetermined location in Berks County," prosecutors said in a release. Throughout the course of the two days, eight individuals showed up to the rendezvous site and were arrested, DA John T. Adams said. These suspects were arrested and charged with the followin…
Police & Fire
Reading 'Sevens' Gang Kingpin Gets Life In Prison: Feds
The "general" of a Reading street gang who "raped, robbed, caged, shot," and "violently beat" his way to the top of the city's underworld will spend the rest of his natural life in federal prison, authorities say. Karvarise Person, 33, was convicted last June of a litany of racketeering and conspiracy charges related to Reading's "Sevens" street gang, of which he was the "most ruthless leader," said US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero in a statement. During the trial, federal prosecutors said Person was already a member of Gangster Disciples — "a national gang with roots…
Police & Fire
Florida Man Ran Sex Trafficking Scheme In PA, Feds Say
A Florida man will spend decades behind bars for running an interstate sex trafficking ring, federal authorities have announced. John Golom, 57, was sentenced to 405 months — almost 34 years — in federal prison, US Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Gerard Karam said in a statement on Monday, Oct. 17. Prosecutors said Golom recruited two women and regularly shuttled them from Florida to the Poconos where he made them engage in prostitution. For four years from 2014 to 2018, Golom threatened, coerced and lied to the women while pocketing all of the ill-go…
News
Philly Man Ran Interstate Sex Trafficking Scheme, Feds Say
A Philadelphia man will spend more than a decade in federal prison on sex trafficking charges, officials have announced. Victor Clayton, 47, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars and 10 years supervised release for running an underage prostitution scheme that crossed state lines, US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement dated Thursday, Sept. 29. On March 15, 2018, Clayton was arrested at a Dunn, North Carolina motel where police found him with two girls aged 16 and 15. The 47-year-old had solicited the victims as sex workers at the motel, and had done the…
Police & Fire
PA Men Convicted Of Sex Trafficking Teenage Girls From Virginia, Maryland
Two men part of a teenage sex trafficking ring that was headquartered in the Philadelphia suburbs have been convicted, authorities said. A jury found 36-year-old Dimas Omar Hernandez, aka “Adonys,” of Malvern, and 27-year-old Franklin Rivera-Mendieta, aka “Mono,” of Downingtown, guilty on charges of trafficking minors, involuntary servitude, rape, kidnapping, and other related offenses, according to the Chester County District Attorney's Office. On May 28, 2020, a missing 14-year-old Maryland girl's Facebook message to her mother led multi-state authorities to her location, sparking an…
News
Feds: NJ Family Services Caseworker Busted With Child Porn Tried To Traffic Minor For Sex
UPDATE: A now-former New Jersey child services worker who was busted on child porn charges at Newark Airport nearly a year ago also tried to traffic a minor for prostitution, federal authorities said they've learned. Trent Collier, a 56-year-old onetime "family service specialist" for the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency, had arrived on a flight from the Dominican Republic last October when images of child pornography were found on his cellphone, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. "One image depicts a fully nude prepubescent boy and fully nude prepubescent girl on…
News
R. Kelly Gets 30 Years Without Parole For Sex Trafficking
R&B singer R. Kelly is a "disgusting" child abuser who taught his victims that love was "enslavement and violence," said a federal judge in Brooklyn who sentenced him to 30 years in prison Wednesday for running a decades-long sex trafficking ring that included child victims. The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer raped and otherwise sexually abused victims "with regularity" for nearly 25 years, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly said. “This case is not about sex. It’s about violence and cruelty and control,” the judge told Kelly, who reportedly is now destitute after selling more tha…
Police & Fire
4 Convicted In PA Sex Trafficking Ring 'The Sevens'
Four members of a sex trafficking ring that ran out of a boarding house in southeastern Pennsylvania have been convicted, federal authorities said. Shaquile Newson, 29, Alexander Malave, 31, Karvarise Person, 33, and James Goode, 47, were convicted on multiple charges, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, the US Attorney’s Office said. Federal investigators linked the quartet to "The Sevens," a "violent gang" that operated out of a 50-room boarding house on South 4th Street in Reading, t…
News
Child 'Sexploitation': Ridgewood Man, Accused Female Trafficker From Georgia Busted In Probe
The arrest of a Ridgewood man who sought nude photos and videos from kids he had online sex chats with led investigators to a child in Georgia who was being victimized by a female sex trafficker, authorities said. James A. Razin, 36, “used the Internet to view, download, possess, and distribute files depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent children,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Wednesday, May 25. Razin, who lives in the Mayflower Apartments complex on East Ridgewood Avenue, also “engaged[d] in live, one-on-one online chats with children and requested nude ima…
Police & Fire
Ex
-mtv
Star Who Recruited Sex Trafficking Victims On Social Media Nabbed In Maryland: Police
A former MTV reality show star wanted out of Las Vegas for using his large social media presence to recruit sex trafficking victims was arrested in Maryland, authorities said. Kevin Barnes, aka "Choppa," was extradited to Las Vegas after his capture on a warrant in Linthicum on Monday, April 25, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said on Twitter. The 37-year-old was formerly part of the MTV reality show "Making The Band," TMZ reports. Mr. Barnes was arrested on @LVMPD warrant in Linthicum, Maryland. Detectives believe there may be local victims. If anyone has any additional i…
News
Undercover Detective Nabs 14 'Johns' In PA Prostitution Ring
An online ad and a local hotel helped lay a thirst trap for police to capture 14 so-called "Johns" who participated in a sex trafficking ring in Pennsylvania. The Lancaster County Human Trafficking Task Force, launched on January 11, but in less than 2 months it has successfully completed it's operation, Lancaster County media specialist Sean McBryan says in a statement released on Thursday, Mar. 24. After the task placed the ad online, the undercover female detective answered over 100 "Johns" who replied to the online ad— all in about eight hours on Mar. 10, McBryan says. Some of the res…
News
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…
Police & Fire
Man Who Tried Sex Trafficking Woman In Maryland May Have More Victims: Police
A man who tried sex trafficking a woman in Maryland may have more victims, police say. An investigation into Ernest Wilkerson, of Rockville, was launched in December 2021 after a female said she was sex trafficked by him in October of that year, Montgomery County police said. Wilkerson, 32, was arrested on Jan. 27, 2022 near Heartfields Road in Silver Spring, where he tried to pick up a trafficking victim in his red 2009 Cadillac DTS, authorities said. His intent was to take her to a hotel to meet with individuals for the purpose of sexual exploitation, police said. Detectives h…
News
Feds: Probe In NJ, PA Leads To Arrest Of Paroled Sex Trafficker
A paroled sex trafficker from New Jersey who served nearly 10 years in federal prison was free barely a year when he returned to pimping women and girls, authorities charged. A federal judge in Newark ordered Amin Sharif, 47, of Newark detained following a brief video conference Wednesday afternoon. Records show Sharif, formerly of East Orange, was released from federal prison on Jan. 30, 2020 after serving nearly 120 months for sex trafficking. He'd taken a plea bargain after investigators caught him trafficking underage girls and women, recruiting some of them from out of state on MySpac…
News
R. Kelly Convicted Of Child Sex Assaults, Sex Trafficking By Federal Jurors In NYC
R&B singer R. Kelly could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of running a decades-long sex trafficking ring -- one that included children as victims -- following a high-profile trial full of graphic testimony. The guilty verdict returned by seven male and five female federal jurors in Brooklyn on Monday "forever brands" Robert Sylvester Kelly, 54, as "a predator who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification," said Jacquelyn Kasulis, the acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York…
Police & Fire
Feds: Philly Man Indicted For Bucks, Delaware County Sex Trafficking Ring
A Philadelphia man was charged by Indictment for operating a sex trafficking ring in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Delaware counties, federal authorities said. Kevin Smith, 27, is accused of "knowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, and maintaining" a minor for the purpose of forcing them into prostitution for about a week in September 2019, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. Investigators also allege that Smith operated a sex trafficking ring various times over a period of two years from July 2015 to July 2017, authorities said. During …
Police & Fire
Feds: Reading Woman Gets 15 Years In Prison For Sex Trafficking Girls Ages 15, 17
A Reading woman was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for sexually trafficking two teen girls in 2017, federal authorities announced Friday. Melissa Madera, 27, forced the 15- and 17-year-old girls into commercial sex and compensated the teens with Ecstasy and cocaine to ensure their compliance, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. Madera had a sexually explicit image of one of the girls and used it on a commercial sex trafficking website, advertising the teen for sex acts at Berks County hotel locations such as the Quality Inn in Wyomissing…
News
PA, Delaware, Maryland Sex Trafficker Who Brutalized Victims Gets 35 Years In Fed Pen
UPDATE: A Delaware man was sentenced in federal court in Philadelphia on Monday to 35 years in prison for running a multi-state sex trafficking operation that brutally victimized vulnerable young women and underage girls for years. From 2012 to 2017, Dkyle Bridges, 35, of Claymont, and two accomplices preyed on mostly homeless victims in southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and elsewhere who “needed financial and emotional support in their lives,” Deputy United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen said. Bridges lured victims “into the trafficking circle with false promises of that kin…
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