Senate Bill (SB) 14 –legislation that makes trafficking of a minor for purposes of a commercial sex act a serious felony — is now the law in California.
City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced on September 12 that her office filed a lawsuit against the owners and operator of the New Gage Motel in South Los Angeles.
The heightened awareness of human trafficking comes on the heels of an HBO documentary that finally spotlighted the world of the Black and Missing Foundation, headed by Washington, D.C., based sister-in-law’s Derrica and Natalie Wilson.
Justice means giving someone what he or she deserves. Finally, after facing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, payoffs to victims and unpopular acquittals singer R. Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking in a Brooklyn federal courtroom. The jury found him guilty of being the ringleader in a decades-long criminal enterprise to recruit women and underage girls for sex. Allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships with minors have swirled around R Kelly for years, especially after his illegal marriage to the R&B singer Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just fifteen. The term racketeering is usually associated with organized crime, referring to a group of individuals that attempt to extort, coerce or otherwise create some type of scheme or a racket. In the case of R Kelly, the court and prosecutors felt that his expansive entourage of staff and enablers around the musician constituted a criminal enterprise.
A jury of seven men and five women in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, found Robert Sylvester Kelly, 54, guilty of all nine counts
After several delays, the first phase of the sex trafficking trial of R&B hitmaker R. Kelly started Monday with jury selection in New York City.
According to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Marshals Service Missing Child Unit’s “Operation Not Forgotten” resulted in the rescue of 26 children in Georgia, the safe location of 13 children and the arrest of nine criminal associates.
Derrica Wilson and her sister Natalie noticed what had become the norm for mainstream media when it comes to the plight of missing women and girls of color: there was little to no media coverage. As a result, in 2008, Derrica and Natalie founded the nonprofit Black and Missing Foundation with a mission to bring awareness to missing persons of color and to provide vital resources and tools to missing person’s families and friends.
Wendy’s Window
“I shook hands with a 13 year-old-boy whose mother told him to make eye contact and shake hands firmly. Even in the midst of horrific living conditions and imprisonment, children at the facility are still being taught to treat people with respect, while being treated less than human…”
“One thing I think for sure about the missing teens is that human trafficking is a hotbed in my city ,” said Psychologist and Navy veteran Sheri Davis, who lives in Madison, Alabama. “I think it’s very easy for the courts and police to turn their heads the other way and not deal with the problem at hand.”
Brown, 30, has been in prison since she was 16 when she was convicted of killing Johnny Michael Allen, whom Brown said paid her $150 to have sex. A victim of sex trafficking, Brown said she feared for her life during the encounter and she responded by shooting Allen.
Williams, who has a large social media presence on Snapchat and Instagram, was sentenced last year to three months in jail for prostitution, according to the affidavit.
Traveling across the country as well as abroad allows one to take in a variety of opinions and perspectives. Understanding different attitudes and points of view can help navigate the awkwardness of sensitive topics that I was curious to discuss. As I traveled through various parts of Italy and Greece recently, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts about forgiveness, humanity, hope, peace, love and happiness to a variety of people and what I found is that all of us have the same basic concerns. One of those concerns pertains to the direction the world and mankind is headed in today’s political and global climate, but overall people still believe in humanity and that goodness will prevail.
Nearly four years after militants attacked a rural school and kidnapped over 200 girls in a well-planned raid, the nightmare has ended for about 100 Nigerian girls.