Human Trafficking and Smuggling Report

DHS Open Source Enterprise 

Daily Human Trafficking and Smuggling Report  

12 September 2011 

NATIONAL: 

• Woman Charged With Forcing Teen Into Prostitution [Illinois]:  A Chicago woman is accused of forcing a teenage girl into prostitution, while the older female kept all the proceeds.  Ebony Mason, 27, of the 500 block of West 62nd Street, was ordered held Sunday on $250,000 bail on charges of human trafficking and involuntary sexual servitude of a minor. … Mason photographed the lingerie-clad minor and posted the pictures on a website known to advertise prostitution services, said William Hall, an assistant Cook County state's attorney.  "The defendant and the victim began receiving customers, who paid cash in exchange for sex acts," Hall told Judge Jackie Portman in bond court.  "The defendant took all of the money the victim earned."  Detectives with the Chicago Police Department's human trafficking task force became involved Friday when they answered the online ad, offering $200 in exchange for sex.  [HSEC-3.10; Date: 12 September 2011; Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-sex-trafficking- 20110912,0,3688518.story]  

• Guatemalan National Sentenced For Being Smuggling House 'Enforcer' [California]:  A Los Angeles judge sentenced a Guatemalan national to more than seven years in prison Friday for his role in the operation of a human smuggling "drop house."  Roberto Jose-Tomas, 33, was accused of helping oversee a house where undocumented immigrants were held against their will, denied food and physically assaulted, according to a statement from Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin R. Rhoades.  He received a sentence of 87 months in federal prison.  Jose-Tomas was identified as one of the "enforcers" at the drop house, according 

to the statement, "where illegal aliens were held against their will until relatives paid smuggling fees -- fees that were often increased once the aliens arrived in the United States."  [HSEC-3.9; Date: 9 September 2011; Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/09/09/california.human.smuggling.sentence/] 

• Man Held On Human Trafficking, Prostitution Charges [Maryland]:  A New Jersey man was arrested Thursday in Glen Burnie on charges of human trafficking and prostitution….  Uzodimma Nnamdi Oguh, 32, transported women along the East Coast to work as prostitutes, Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday.  Police said they searched a Baltimore hotel where they said Oguh was running the business locally.  Oguh has been charged with six counts of human trafficking … He remained Friday at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on $250,000 bond.  [HSEC-3.10; Date: 9 September 2011; Source: 

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-09/news/bs-md-ar-human-trafficking-case- 20110909_1_prostitution-charges-human-trafficking-car-crash]   

• Kansas Law Falls Short In Combating Human Trafficking:  A national anti-trafficking organization is giving Kansas low marks on state efforts to police human trafficking, but Missouri fares much better. … "Missouri is in the best category and Kansas is in the second lowest," said Mary Ellison, director of policy at Polaris. … Kansas received only four of a possible 10 points in a state-by-state analysis by Polaris, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.  Missouri scored seven out of 10 points in the same study. … Though human trafficking once was thought to be a coastal phenomenon, Missouri and Kansas have emerged as prosecution hot spots.  In addition to some child prostitution cases brought under anti-trafficking laws, federal authorities in Kansas City prosecuted in 2009 what was then the largest labor trafficking ring uncovered in the United States.  The scheme forced an estimated 1,000 immigrants from several countries to work for low wages cleaning hotel rooms.  [HSEC-3.9; Date: 10 September 2011; Source:http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/10/3133808/kansas-law-falls-short-on-human.html#ixzz1Xjx9CPFw]  

INTERNATIONAL: 

• Two Scots Admit Sex Trafficking Across UK:  Two people have pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in the first convictions in Scotland under new legislation.  Stephen Craig, 34, and Sarah Beukan, 22, admitted moving 14 men and women to various addresses in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and Newcastle for prostitution. … Craig, from Clydebank, and Beukan of Leith, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty on the day their trial was due to start, saving more than 200 witnesses from giving evidence. … Craig had also been charged with managing the men and women and living on earnings from prostitution, along with Mr McNeil, from Hamilton and Mr Dryburgh, of Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire.  Beukan had also been accused of managing prostitutes and arranging accommodation and advertising for them at various addresses in Glasgow and Aberdeen, between January 2009 and September 2010.  [HSEC-3.10; Date: 9 September 2011; Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14857004] 

• Teen Pleads Guilty In Slavery Case [Canada]:  At 17, he was a long way from his childhood in a small Hungarian town. … Now he finds himself part of an alleged criminal human trafficking ring which Assistant Crown Attorney Antonio Skarica denounced as "an invasion of evil," from Hungary.  The teen cannot be identified because he is a young offender.  He pled guilty in a Hamilton courtroom on August 25 to charges related to thefts and threats as part of an alleged human trafficking ring. … The conviction is part of a much- larger alleged human trafficking ring that is before the courts, and because of concerns about pretrial publicity, details of the youth's hearing were banned from being made public. … The alleged criminal organization would recruit people from Hungary, pay for their airfare to Canada, have them claim refugee status, sign up for welfare, live in the basements of the criminal organization members and work for little or no pay.  [HSEC-3.8; Date: 12 September 2011; Source: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/592449-- 

teen-pleads-guilty-in-slavery-case]  

• Five Arrests In 'Slavery' Raid At Greenacre Travellers' Site [United Kingdom]:  Twenty-four men suspected of being held against their will have been found during a raid at a travellers' site.  Four men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of committing slavery offences in the raid at Greenacre travellers' site, 

Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, on Sunday.  The men, who are English, Polish and Romanian, were found in "filthy and cramped" conditions … Those arrested are being held on suspicion of committing offences under the Slavery and Servitude Act 2010. … More than 200 officers were involved in the raids. … Det Ch Insp Sean O'Neil said: … "We believe that some of them had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few weeks and others for up to 15 years."  He added that the men appeared to have been "recruited" from soup kitchens and benefits offices and included people with problems such as alcoholism.  [HSEC-3.10; Date: 11 September 2011; Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds- bucks-herts-14871318]  

• Four Appear In Crewe Court Accused Of Human Trafficking Offences [United Kingdom]:  Four Slovakians have appeared in court charged with human trafficking offences in Crewe.  After an eight-month investigation by Cheshire police, all four accused appeared together in the dock at South Cheshire 

Magistrates Court on Thursday, September 8, and denied the charges put before them. … Marcel Farkas, 25 … was charged with facilitating the arrival into the UK of a person intending to exploit him, facilitating travel in the UK of the same person and holding that person in slavery or servitude.  His sister Vera 

Farkasova, 23 … was charged with facilitating travel within the UK of a person whose entry into the UK she believed had been facilitated with the intent that he be exploited.  Andrej Karicka, 37, of Richard Street, was charged with facilitating entry into the UK of a person intending to exploit him, and holding that person in slavery or servitude.  [HSEC-3.10; Date: 9 September 2011; Source: http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/local-crewe-ews/2011/09/09/four-appear-in-crewe-court- accused-of-human-trafficking-offences-96135-29391883/]