Texas authorities and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children are searching for a teen girl who they believe is being trafficked. NBC 6 reports that efforts to spread the word about Kristen Galvan’s disappearance are ramped up this week, on her 17th birthday. Galvan has been missing for over a year after vanishing …
Authorities are investigating a possible human trafficking incident after a man called 911 pleading for help for dozens of people reportedly trapped inside a tanker truck. The Associated Press obtained the recording of an emergency call made by an unidentified man, who reportedly said that about 80 people were inside a parked truck, packed together …
The Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI announced Friday that a multi-day human trafficking operation called “Operation Lost Angels” had recovered 33 children and one arrest of a suspected trafficker. Eight of the 33 children were being actively sexually exploited at the time, said Kristi K. Johnson, assistant director of the LA field office. …
Authorities in Florida announced Tuesday that they arrested more than 170 suspects during a two-year investigation into the human trafficking of an underage girl. Tallahassee police said in a statement that they established Operation Stolen Innocence in November 2018, after officers discovered explicit images of a child on a sex-for-pay website. Investigators with the Special …
Federal authorities in Texas announced Thursday that two men were charged with human trafficking for the sale and purchase of a 19-year-old. Alfonso Juarez, 35, was arrested at his home in Dallas, Texas, while Robert Hubert, 66, was apprehended at his residence in Roebuck, South Carolina. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of …
Police in Texas recently arrested 21 suspects during a two-day anti-human trafficking operation. On Saturday, the city of Beaumont described the 21 men as “sex buyers” who solicited minors and adults. KFSM reported that some of the 21 suspects have been released on bond. The Beaumont Police Department and Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office collaborated …
A North Carolina man has been accused of keeping a victim as a virtual sex slave for five years. ABC News reports that Salvador Espinoza Escobar, 48, was arrested on Wednesday and is facing a human trafficking charge after the the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said he allegedly kept a woman in “sexual servitude” for …
Authorities in Utah and Arizona have criminally charged an Arizona public official for allegedly operating a trafficking ring that involved transporting pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. to give birth, then paying them to give their babies up for adoption. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen—who is also an adoption attorney licensed in …
A missing California teen was rescued on Tuesday from sex trafficking during an undercover operation by Pomona police. ABC 7 reports that plainclothes officers found the teen while conducting surveillance in the East Holt Avenue Corridor area of Pomona. Authorities said the girl was reported missing from Riverside County. The victim’s identity is protected due …
This month, three men in Texas were sentenced to federal prison for operating a sex trafficking ring involving underage girls as young as 13. A statement from the Western District of Texas’ U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that a U.S. District judge sentenced Khalil S. Maxwell, 22, to 25 years, Daniel Chavez, 28, to 10 years, …
A Georgia mother is facing criminal charges for allegedly prostituting her daughter six years earlier, when the girl was just 11 years old. The Daily Tribune News reported that police believe Jennifer Short, now 37, sold her preteen daughter to Javier Murrieta, now 42, for $100 sometime between January 1-2, 2013. An indictment alleged that Murrieta acquired “sexual …
The rescue of dozens of children during a sweep by law enforcement in Michigan this month highlights how many of America’s missing children are victims of human trafficking. Nancy Grace assembles a team of experts to discuss the problem, including Melody Miller, director of the documentary “California’s Forgotten Children” and victims’ advocate Marc Klass, founder …
