Source: Examiner
“A Louisiana man will spend the next seven years in federal prison for transporting minors across state lines to sell them for sex, officials said Monday.
Mr. Dmarcus Antwain Ward, 26, of Minden, was sentenced Monday on the sex trafficking charges after investigators said he took juveniles to Alabama and back to Georgia, advertising them on the Internet for commercial sex acts.
“Atlanta is earning the unfortunate distinction as a center of human trafficking of all kinds, and this case demonstrates the tragic harms to our children and our community that results from sex trafficking of minors,” U. S. Attorney Mrs. Sally Quillian Yates said. “The sentence against this defendant is a step toward removing this activity from our community. Our work against child sex trafficking will continue until this problem is eliminated.”
Source: WSBTV
“PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A search warrant uncovered child pornography inside the home of a Dallas man, Paulding County deputies said on Tuesday.
Deputies arrested Allan John Chase, 53, and charged him with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Chase was held in the Paulding County Detention Center without the possibility of bond.
Detectives said they took two computers from Chase’s home on Jan. 4. Investigators said they also found videos of suspected child pornography involving children believed to be between 5 and 15 years old.
Detectives said they continue to go through the evidence and expected to find more images.
The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office is a member of the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, created to lead investigations into sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. ”
Sourc: AJC
“The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Friday ruled for the first time that a man who possesses child pornography must pay restitution to a child whose illicit image was found in his possession.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Ricky Lee McDaniel, 54, must pay $12,700 to a girl who, at 10 years old, was raped and abused by her father on videotape. Authorities found images of the assault in McDaniel’s child pornography collection.
At a restitution hearing, federal prosecutors read a statement from the girl who said she lives “every day with the horrible knowledge that someone is watching the most terrifying moments of my life and taking grotesque pleasure in them. … They’re being entertained by my shame and pain.”"
Source: Youth Radio
“The FBI estimates that a mid-level trafficker can make more than $500,000 dollars a year by marketing just four girls.
In our second part of Trafficked, Youth Radio finds that what used to be a local activity has gone global and more violent. With so much money being made through trafficking, police say long standing networks of gangs and drug dealers are starting to cross over because they see sex trafficking as an easier game. The potential prison sentences are much lower and the game is less dangerous if you are a pimp or a trafficker.
Youth Radio obtained a hand-written business plan from a pimp (PDF below) during our investigation for Trafficked (obtained from a prosecutor.) The business plan titled Keep It Pimpin states how the pimp wants to expand his trafficking business locally as well as nationally. He also writes that he wants to discover girls “from all over”–especially girls in jail houses and in small cities.
Alameda County DA Sharmin Bock says the pimp business plan represents a larger pimp mentality. “He said ‘I’m going to take it from the concrete streets to the executive suites.’ And that means ultimately you do want to be in those executive suites,” Bock says. “Ultimately you do want to be doing the big ticket sales of children all over the country. And sadly today there is no better bang for your buck, no better investment on your money, no better return, than selling a child for sex.””
See the full story including the list
Source: AJC
“A woman walked into a fire department station house in northwest Atlanta late Thursday, desperate for help.
Her jaw was bruised. The woman said her boyfriend punched her.
The firefighters there closed the doors to the station house to protect her, in case the boyfriend was following her, and called police.
Mayor Shirley Franklin unveiled a new initiative Friday in which every Atlanta fire station will respond similarly when such scenarios take place. The program is called “Safe S.P.O.T.S.” The idea is to give victims of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault or exploitation and infant abandonment a safe place from those who’ve harmed them while fire department workers get them medical attention, call police or contact counseling agencies.”
