- 4/24/12—Athens Clarke County
- Athens-Clarke County authorities and the GBI are seeking the public’s help in finding a California fugitive wanted on charges of pimping juvenile girls.
- Archie Richard Byrd III, 29, of Fresno, Calif., fled Athens-Clarke County police on April 10 during a traffic stop when they tried to arrest him on felony trafficking of persons charges.
- Byrd has been identified as a suspect in human trafficking of juvenile female prostitutes, the GBI said in a statement. Byrd has a history of sexual offenses, according to the GBI. He also is wanted in California for aggravated assault.
- Byrd is described as 5 foot 11 and 230 pounds with multiple tattoos, including a noticeable one on his right forearm that reads ‘ISREAL.’
Georgia–04/24/12
April 30, 2012 By
Texas–04/22/12
April 30, 2012 By
- 4/22/12—Houston
- An accused pimp from Colorado is expected to appear in a Harris County courtroom on Monday.
- Jermain “Jello” Wallace was captured Thursday along FM 1960. Investigators say he was in a cab with four girls, who were part of a sex trafficking operation here in the Houston area.
- Reported through My Fox Houston
Alaska–04/20/12
April 30, 2012 By
- 4/20/12 – Juneau
- Alaska lawmakers have unanimously passed a bill stiffening penalties for sex trafficking, removing the label of “prostitute” from victims and changing court procedures as an effort to expedite justice and make the process easier on victims.
- Reported from www.denverpost.com
California–04/20/12
April 30, 2012 By
- 4/20/12 – Oakland
- Mahendar “Mike” Singh was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking throughout Northern California, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.
- Singh, 40, pleaded guilty on January 11, 2012, to sex trafficking conspiracy. In pleading guilty, Singh admitted that he and his wife, co-defendant Helen Jean Singh (née Kearney), 22, both formerly of Sacramento, conspired to operate a prostitution enterprise between spring 2011 and August 2011 in Sacramento County and multiple Bay Area counties, including Contra Costa.
- Reported from www.sfgate.com
Ohio–04/18/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/18/12—Columbus
- Police continue to investigate case of a man accused of offering his adoptive sons up for prostitution.
- Investigators recently searched a home at 1066 Oak Street in Columbus, looking for a computer that may have been used to arrange meetings between adults and children for sex.
- Reported through ABC 6
Nebraska–04/17/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/17/12—Lincoln
- A man and woman from Tennessee who were arrested in Lincoln last October for forcing a teen girl into prostitution have been sentenced to spend 71 months in a federal prison.
- Jessica M. Lidy, 22, and Jarrod S. Sanford, 31, both of Friendship, Tenn., pleaded guilty in December to charges of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution. The duo was sentenced this week in federal court.
- Reported by Nathan Woodside through The Lincoln Courier
Georgia–04/16/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/16/12—Atlanta
- A 50-year-old sex offender was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for pimping a 15-year-old girl he met online, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
- Federal prosecutors say the two met in June 2010 after the girl answered an Internet ad posted by Timothy Lyle Chappell offering a free room. The teen, who lived with her aunt but was contemplating running away, contacted Chappell and the two began talking by phone. At the same time, prosecutors say, the Conley man began posting notices online offering the girl’s services as a prostitute.
- Chappell was sentenced to 20 years and three years of supervised release on charges of enticing a minor to engage in prostitution and transporting and harboring a minor for prostitution. His previous conviction added to the sentence, prosecutors said, which includes three years of supervised release.
- Reported through AJC.com
Oregon–04/16/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/16/12—Portland
- A federal judge in Portland today sentenced the leader of a child sex trafficking ring to more than nine years in prison.
- Zerick Dawson, 30, pleaded guilty last October to a conspiracy by which he sent a girl under the age of 18 into prostitution, court records show
- Reported by Bryan Denson through The Oregonian
Alaska–04/12/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/12/12
- In an effort to stop sex trafficking in Alaska, lawmakers are creating tougher penalties.
- HB 359 would add human trafficking in the first degree and sex trafficking in the first degree to the crimes defined as serious felony offenses.
- “We are raising the age to 20, for where a sex trafficker, a pimp, hires somebody to engage in prostitution,” said Representative Les Gara (D-Anchorage), in the house on Wednesday.
- Reported through KTVA.com
New York–04/12/12
April 19, 2012 By
- 4/12/12—Albany
- Lawmakers and prosecutors are pushing for a stronger human-trafficking law that would increase protections for victims and strengthen penalties against traffickers.
- Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, Westchester County, introduced a bill this week to revise the state’s 2007 law to hold sex and labor traffickers, sex-tourism operators and other human traffickers accountable. The measure would particularly increase protections in cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
- It would also close a gap in the state’s 2008 Safe Harbor Law, which prohibits prosecution and incarceration of children on prostitution charges. Teenagers ages 16 and 17 still have been arrested and convicted in criminal court because the judicial system has some discretion about transferring cases to family court, Paulin said Thursday.
- The legislation would classify sex trafficking as a class B violent felony, which carries more penalties than a B felony, as it is categorized under current law. It would increase the penalty for labor trafficking from a class D felony to a class B felony.
- Reported by Cara Matthews through The Ithaca Journal
