Inside the world of child sex trafficking and the high-tech approach to saving victims

Produced by Chris Young Ritzen  

According to the FBI, sex trafficking of children in this country has become a nationwide problem. And traffickers target troubled girls with low self-esteem -- girls like Alyssa Beck.

Beck was just a naïve 15 year old living in Jacksonville, Florida, when she found herself trapped in a sex trafficker's web.  She would be in and out of their trap for almost five years.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller has been following Beck's story and the horrific world of sex trafficking of kids. It could happen to anyone – that's why actor and activist Ashton Kutcher has taken on this cause to save other young victims.

ALYSSA'S STORY

Alyssa Beck: I was searching for something. …But I didn't know what I was searching for. …I just wanted to be free. …I don't remember being popular when I was growing up. But I always got good grades. …I was really nice and sweet as a child. …But we had problems at home. … There has to be something else. Something better than living like this. …I'm just gonna run away.

Heather Beck | Alyssa's mom: The first couple of times Alyssa ran away, you know, we would get in the car, we would drive around. …I have no idea where she was. I was terrified. Is she in the dumpster or is she in that trash bag on the side of the road and will I ever see her again?

Alyssa Beck: I was a naïve 15-year-old.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Mac Heavener| Prosecutor: She was being forced to do it.

Mac Heavener: We are talking about buying and selling children for sex acts.

Michelle Miller: How many men?

Shannon Schott | Juvenile justice expert and lawyer:  Fifty. …Over the course of two weeks.

Heather Beck: It never crossed my mind in my wildest dreams that my child was involved in human trafficking.

Ashton Kutcher testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on modern slavery, Feb. 15, 2017.  "I've seen things that no person should ever see," he said.

Sen. Bob Corker | R-Tenn: Our first witness today is Mr. Ashton Kutcher.

Ashton Kutcher [ to Congress]:  As part of my anti-trafficking work, I've met victims in Russia, in India, victims in New York and New Jersey and all across our country. …I've been on FBI raids where I've seen things that no person should ever see.

Kutcher gives emotional testimony at hearing on ending modern day slavery

Ashton Kutcher: I have a hard time talking about this issue without being emotional.

Michelle Miller: Why this cause?

Ashton Kutcher: I was just so appalled … If you don't do something about it, then who are you?

Ashton Kutcher: It can happen to anyone … Traffickers prey on people and they know exactly what's gonna turn their trigger.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries

Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse:

Scores of alleged victims come forward and describe culture of cover-up in religious group in UK.

by Sarah Marsh

More than a hundred people have made allegations of mistreatment.

More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah’s Witness communities across the UK.

Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing “reproach on Jehovah” and being exiled from the congregation and their families.

A Guardian investigation also heard from 48 people who experienced other forms of abuse, including physical violence when they were children, and 35 who witnessed or heard about others who were victims of child grooming and abuse.

The stories told to the Guardian ranged from events decades ago to more recent, and many of those who came forward have now contacted the police.

They told the Guardian about:

An organisation that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities.

A rule set by the main governing body of the religion that means for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses.

“I was sexually abused many times a week from the age of three until I was 12. Congregation elders knew that when I told them, at 12, what had been happening. No steps were taken to tell the police. I had to tell three male senior figures what had happened. Imagine that? A young girl telling a bunch of men what this man did to me. I wasn’t even allowed to have my mother there with me.”

After she went to the police about what had happened, the person who abused her pleaded guilty and was eventually convicted. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses should lose their charity status as they are not protecting children,” she added. She said she had mental health issues as a result of what happened and how it was dealt with.

Jason Munro says he was abused for 10 years.

Jason Munro, another alleged victim of sexual abuse who waived his right to anonymity, could not give details of his case due to a current investigation but said: “I am completely horrified by the Jehovah’s Witnesses ... I didn’t get support and I experienced 10 years of abuse. Elders knew in my teens about the abuse but it was never a case of ‘let’s get this person the professional help he needs’.”

When a Jehovah’s Witness experiences sexual abuse they are supposed to report it to elders, who are always men, who will take further action if there is a second witness to the offence. The perpetrator will then be called before a judicial committee if they admit abuse or if there is a second witness.

“This causes further trauma to the victim and coupled with the two-witness rule, is undoubtedly the reason that so many victims have never reported it,” said Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor in the abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp, who is currently acting on behalf of 15 alleged victims.

She also noted that the problem with the two-witness rule in the context of sexual abuse was that there were rarely witnesses to it, “meaning that [these] reports ... are usually dismissed”.

It has been reported that the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the UK, the Watch Tower, holds a database of abuse allegations made within the organisation but has yet to hand it over to authorities.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation in 2013 looking into the Manchester New Moston congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, concluding that it did not deal adequately with allegations of child abuse made against one of the trustees.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries

FBI, This Week: Hazardous Devices School

The FBI trains and certifies the nation’s more than 3,000 local, state, and federal public safety bomb technicians at its Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Transcript:

Mollie Halpern: The FBI trains and certifies the nation’s more than 3,000 local, state, and federal public safety bomb technicians at its Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Unit Chief John Stewart says a centralized training program helps make emergency response operate seamlessly…

John Stewart: They all learn the same principles, they're all taught the same procedures, and they all speak the same language. In the event of a big bombing campaign—similar to what we had in Boston, similar to what we're going through in Austin, Texas, right now—when we send in multiple bomb techs from different jurisdictions and federal agencies, they can all operate together.

Halpern: Students are trained in realistic scenarios on the school’s 500 acres.

Eighteen training villages are set up to accommodate about 1,500 students a year earning their certifications, re-certifications, and taking advanced courses.

Stewart: Each village allows us to run a bomb call in the village—and it has a church and a strip mall and a city hall, a school, a fire department, there's train stations, bus stations—we can perform all of our live actions in there. If the procedure requires us to use an explosive tool, we can do that in that village. We don't have to simulate anything.

Halpern: In addition to teaching at the school, FBI Special Agent Bomb Technicians are strategically located at the FBI’s 56 field offices across the country. To learn more, visit www.fbi.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.

FOR AUDIO

TrinityMount.Info

Make a CyberTipline Report

In March 1998, using hardware, software, and programming assistance donated by Sun MicroSystems, NCMEC launched the CyberTipline® to further NCMEC’s mission of helping to prevent and diminish the sexual exploitation of children.

The CyberTipline provides the public and electronic service providers (ESPs) with the ability to report online (and via toll-free telephone) instances of online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the Internet. NCMEC continuously reviews.

CyberTipline reports to ensure that reports of children who may be in imminent danger get first priority. After NCMEC’s review is completed, all information in a CyberTipline report is made available to law enforcement.
In furtherance of NCMEC’s mission, the CyberTipline allows NCMEC to engage with the Internet industry on voluntary initiatives to help reduce the proliferation of child sexual abuse images online. NCMEC uses the information submitted to the CyberTipline to create and tailor NCMEC’s safety and prevention publications that are provided to educators, parents and the public to help to prevent future victimization.

More than 27 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation have been made to the CyberTipline between 1998 and 2017.

Members of the public are encouraged to report information regarding possible child sexual exploitation to the CyberTipline.

TrinityMount.Info

Controversial Sex-Trafficking Bill Pro and Con

Senate Passes SESTA, the Controversial Sex-Trafficking Bill

By Madeleine Aggeler

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to pass the Stop Enabling Sex-Trafficking Act, a controversial anti-trafficking bill that would make it easier for people to sue websites that “knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking.” The bill will now be sent to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

SESTA, or FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) as it is sometimes known, amends Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which largely protects companies from being held liable for what people post online.

The measure, proposed by Senator Rob Portman, was drawn up following 2016 reports that adults and children were being trafficked on the classifieds website Backpage.com. Though the bill is supposedly intended to fight online trafficking by enabling victims to sue websites, it has been widely opposed by sex workers — who say it will prevent them from being able to do their jobs safely and independently — and free-internet advocates who say it would restrict free speech online, and pose a threat to small internet companies who could now potentially be overwhelmed by lawsuits.

Here’s What’s Wrong With the So-Called Anti–Sex Trafficking Bill

by Amanda Arnold

A Senate vote is expected any day now on the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA), a bill that would clarify the country’s existing sex-trafficking laws and update Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, all to ostensibly protect sex-trafficking victims. While the bill has wide political support and a handful of celebrity endorsements, many sex workers and actual advocates for trafficking victims have spoken out against it, arguing that it will make vulnerable populations less safe.

Here’s what to know about SESTA:

What is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act?
In short, it’s a landmark piece of legislation that protects freedom of expression on the internet. As described by the ACLU: “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes websites from legal liability for the comments of their users … it defines Internet culture as we know it: It’s the reason why websites can offer platforms for critical and controversial speech without constantly worrying about getting sued.”

What exactly is SESTA?
In August 2017, Republican senator Rob Portman of Ohio introduced the first version of SESTA, which he designed to make it easier for plaintiffs and state attorney generals to sue Backpage and other websites that “knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking.”

READ MORE

Sex Trafficking Bill

Trinity Mount Ministries

Lucas Warriors raise awareness for missing 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) A group who calls themselves the Lucas Warriors gathered outside Intrust Bank Arena today and it wasn't to watch basketball.

The Lucas Warriors is a group here in Kansas who hopes to find Lucas Hernandez.

On Saturday, members stood outside Intrust Bank Arena with signs in hand in hopes of bringing Lucas home.

The Lucas Warriors talked to both Kansans and out of state fans about Lucas Hernandez and spreading the word about his disappearance.

"I love to tell his story. I think he's such a precious little boy. I think everybody just needs to know his story," says Julie LaForce.

Even if for some it wasn't easy.

"I know myself personally, I'm extremely quiet and kind of shy, so to be out here in the middle of thousands of people is a hard thing for me to do. But at this point, I would do anything to bring Lucas home," says Sheila Medlam.

The group say they have received training from Texas Equusearch to help find Lucas. They also say they're working with Lucas' dad Jonathan and his family to get help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

As fans asked them "Who's Lucas?" the warrior group was glad they could bring awareness to his disappearance.

"What brings a better crowd than college basketball? Especially since we have Kansas, KU playing here. He needs to go national. He can't be forgotten. I'm not going to let him slip through the cracks. None of us are."

Original Article

Trinity Mount Ministries

Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Oklahoma

Five Who Purchased and Sold Children for Sex in Oklahoma City Ordered to Serve Combined 38 Years in Prison and Pay Over $635,000 in Restitution to Victims

OKLAHOMA CITY – Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking were ordered to serve a combined 38 years in federal prison and pay over $635,000 in restitution to victims, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to court records, in October 2014, Maurice M. Johnson engaged in sex trafficking of two girls (aged 14 and 15) and an adult female.  As soon as the 14-year-old girl was recruited, Johnson instructed her to start calling phone numbers from the escort section of the Yellow Pages to find Tonya Gay Gum, whom he knew as "Carmen."  At the time, Gum operated at least twenty phone numbers listed in the escort section of the Oklahoma City Yellow Pages.  The 14-year-old victim made contact with Gum and sent her photographs of herself and the adult female.  After that, Gum began arranging commercial sex transactions between her established customer base (or new customers who called her phone lines) and the females under Johnson’s control.  Johnson drove the girls to hotels, residences, and commercial spaces, where the customers paid in cash for sex.  After each commercial sex transaction, Gum met the girls at different locations in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area to receive the proceeds, which Gum and Johnson split.  They did not give any money to the victims they trafficked.

A federal grand jury indicted Johnson on December 3, 2014.  He pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking on January 30, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron.  In August 2017, he was sentenced to 240 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

Gum and three customers who purchased sex with the children were indicted by a federal grand jury on June 16, 2015.  On  November 19, 2015, Gum pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, also before Judge Cauthron.  In August 2017, she was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

The three customers—William M. Baker, Trung N. Duong, and Curtis A. Anthony—purchased sex with the children in October 2014.  Before their convictions, their cases went before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in February 2017 that they could be convicted of child sex trafficking even if they did not know or recklessly disregard a child victim’s age, so long as they had a "reasonable opportunity to view" the child victim.

On May 9, 2017, Duong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  On November 2, 2017, Baker also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  In August 2017, Judge Cauthron sentenced each of them to 24 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Anthony went to trial and was convicted by a federal jury on June 19, 2017, of both conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking and child sex trafficking.  He was sentenced in October 2017 to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

All of these defendants will be required to register as sex offenders for 25 years after released from custody.

At the time of the sentencings, the court deferred a determination of restitution.  Today Judge Cauthron amended the judgments and ordered all five defendants to pay $635,247 in restitution to victims, with each defendant jointly and severally liable for the full amount immediately.  "Although the innocence of these children cannot be restored, we are pleased that the Court is holding the defendants responsible for paying for the future care and treatment caused by their crimes," said Acting U.S. Attorney Troester.

This case is the result of an investigation by United States Department of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys McKenzie Anderson and David Petermann prosecuted the case.

Department Of Justice

Trinity Mount Ministries