Council Approves Human Trafficking Ordinance

This is an excellent approach being taken by the City of Portland. Too many pimps continue to do this because there is no risk to them at all. However, if you start seeing pimps actually go to jail for this and have their assets seized, than you may actually grab a pimps attention. If we aren’t hurting their pockets and holding them responsible for the crime they committed than what makes you think they will stop. Protesting and holding meetings will not deter the pimps from prostituting our youth. These type of ordinances will help though. This will take some time but if our law enforcement and city officials would unite and create tougher laws or ordinances, than you may actually make a difference in this fight against human trafficking. For too long, the only ones who were going through the criminal justice system were the victims themselves.

Council Approves Human Trafficking Ordinance Pimps’ Cash To Help Trafficking Victims

POSTED: 10:10 pm PDT October 27, 2010
, Ore. — Portland’s City Council has approved an ordinance that will use items seized from pimps and johns to help the victims of sex trafficking.

Under the ordinance, items seized in prostitution crimes, including cell phones, cars, computers and cash, will go toward funds for victims. Most of the money will fund shelter and victim services, but 25 percent will be used for trafficking-related law enforcement.

City Commissioner Dan Saltzman says taking cash from pimps and johns will “cripple their operations by taking the tools they use to exploit children and women.”

BOULDER MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CONNECTION WITH A HUMAN TRAFFICKING PROSECTION FOR HARBORING ILLEGAL ALIENS AND TAX-RELATED CHARGES

I am happy to see that more Labor trafficking cases are being prosecuted throughout the U.S. This is excellent!!!

DENVER, CO – A Boulder, Colo., restaurant owner from Thailand pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of harboring illegal aliens and one count of failing to pay taxes.

The guilty plea was announced by: U.S. Attorney John Walsh, District of Colorado; Denver Special Agent in Charge Kumar Kibble, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Sigerson, IRS Criminal Investigation from the Denver Field Office.

As part of the plea agreement, Opas Sinprasong, 52, of Boulder, Colo., will forfeit $766,000 and two residential properties. He also faces incarceration and restitution to compensate the victims of his crimes. Sinprasong also agreed to be deported to Thailand after he completes his prison sentence, if any is imposed by the judge. The guilty plea was tendered before Chief U.S. District Court Chief Judge Wiley Y. Daniel. Chief Judge Daniel is scheduled to sentence Sinprasong on Feb. 10, 2011. Sinprasong was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Denver on the same date in 2010.

According to the plea agreement and the indictment, Sinprasong is a citizen of Thailand residing legally in the United States on an E-2 Non-Immigrant Principal Investor status visa. While in the United States, he ran Thai and Japanese restaurants in Boulder, Louisville, and Broomfield, under the following business names: Siamese Plate and Sumidas, and Siamese Plate on the go.

From 2001 through 2008, Sinprasong sponsored Thai nationals’ admission to the United States as specialty workers for his restaurants. He claimed in immigration applications that these workers possessed specialized skills that were essential to the efficient operation of his businesses. The Thai employees were admitted to the U.S. for a term of two years, which could be extended for an indefinite number of two-year terms.

Sinprasong required all Thai employees enter into a two-year employment contract. The terms of employment per the contract included:

•Employees had to pay the defendant a “bond” of 50,000 Thai baht (about $1,500 U.S.). The “bond” was a substantial amount of money to the Thai employees.
•Employees were liable to the defendant for a penalty of 600,000 Thai baht (about $18,000 U.S.) if the employee violated a term of the contract or caused damage to Sinprasong. Employees were also required to obtain a personal guarantor in Thailand, who entered into a contract with the defendant making the guarantor liable for the penalty if the employee violated a term of the contract or caused damages.
•Employees paid the defendant a $3,000 “visa preparation fee” after they arrived in the United States, in addition to other fees.
Sinprasong directed the employees to start work at his restaurants upon arrival in the U.S. and he paid them “under-the-table” while deducting portions of the $3,000 “visa preparation fee” and other fees from their paycheck. Once these fees were fully paid through such deductions, which typically took between three and four months, the defendant helped the Thai employees obtain Social Security numbers. Then Sinprasong started to report a portion of their wages and placed them on the official payroll of the restaurants.

Furthermore, Sinprasong defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Thai employees. As part of the scheme, Sinprasong used a dual payroll system whereby he concealed from his payroll records the substantial overtime hours he directed the Thai employees to work, which was typically between 26 and 32 hours of overtime each week. As a result, Sinprasong failed to report all of the wages paid to the Thai employees and failed to pay the Thai employees the overtime wages required by federal law. The defendant filed false employer’s quarterly federal tax returns with the IRS since he failed to report the total wages paid to the Thai employees. By failing to report these wages, the defendant evaded paying the employer’s portion of the Social Security and Medicare taxes due and owing on the unreported wages.

Sinprasong also filed false immigration applications and harbored illegal aliens.

“Those who break our laws to take advantage of vulnerable alien workers in order to enrich themselves will face dire criminal and financial consequences,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “Today’s guilty plea is thanks in large part to the hard work of ICE and IRS Criminal Investigation.”

“Ultimately, the details of this case show that Opas Sinprasong stacked the deck to make an illegal profit,” said Kumar C. Kibble, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Denver. “These investigations and prosecutions help ensure that America lives up to its reputation as the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.” Kibble oversees a four-state area, including: Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

“The IRS enforces the nation’s tax laws, but also takes particular interest in cases where someone, for their own personal benefit, preys upon the trust of others,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Sigerson for IRS Criminal Investigation.

Sinprasong faces not more than five years imprisonment, and up to a $250,000 fine for each count of failure to pay employee federal payroll taxes, and not more than 10 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $250,000 for each count of harboring illegal aliens.

This case was investigated by ICE HSI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

Sinprasong is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Hearty, who is the section chief of the Major Crimes Section in the District of Colorado.

Jury convicts businessman for role in KC-based human-trafficking scheme

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
More News
Fleeing car crashes into tree in Brookside, killing two Tell us what you see at the polls Outreach program for homeless youths receives federal grant Tuesday’s election turnout is likely to lag behind 2006 GOP rhetoric shifts from social issues to the economy A somber picture of neglect and insensitivity Boo at the Zoo draws a big, costumed crowd Store employee tied up in robbery Cities across Kansas are scrambling for funding for highway projects Munday on Monday | “How you’ve grown!” The Watchdog | Kansas Citian thinks hot line isn’t so hot Tribute | Tim Porter made sure he was on hand for his kids’ important moments Men who worked on Gateway Arch gather in St. Louis Southeast Missouri farmers enroll in wetlands habitat program Winning lottery numbers for Sunday, Oct. 31, and Saturday, Oct. 30 Today on ‘Up to Date’ | High school students discuss political involvement ‘Dinosaurs Unearthed’ exhibit has been a boost for Union Station Teamsters accept more concessions at YRC Worldwide 3,200 take advantage of free flu shots at KU Hospital Good weather brings out crowds for Halloween events A federal jury Thursday convicted an Ellisville, Mo., businessman for his role in a Kansas City-based human-trafficking scheme.

Jurors found Kristin Dougherty, 50, guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and wire fraud after a four-day trial.

Prosecutors accused Dougherty of running Anchor Building Services, a labor leasing firm that obtained some of its workers from a network of Kansas City area subcontractors operated by a group of Uzbekistan nationals. Anchor contracted to provide housekeeping services at hotels and resorts around the country using the workers.

The government accused the Uzbeks, who pleaded guilty or fled the U.S. before the indictment was unsealed in May 2009, of coercing foreign workers to work for little or no pay while living in crowded and unsuitable housing.

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Meiners said those Kansas City subcontractors provided legal cover for Dougherty by giving him deniability.

Defense lawyer Nathan Owings said his client and his co-workers at Anchor knew nothing about worker abuses.

“They were running a professional company and kept all the records,” Owings said. “If you’re running a criminal conspiracy, why would you keep all these records?”

Owings said he and his client planned to review the trial record before making any plans about an appeal.

Though prosecutors had painted the conspiracy as a cruel enterprise that fed off the slave labor of poorly compensated foreign workers, Dougherty emerged from the trial’s evidence as someone who appeared to treat his employees professionally. Records showed he paid workers what they were promised, including overtime; provided them with workers’ compensation insurance; and fired at least one manager who was not treating employees properly.

Prosecutors succeeded, however, in showing how a network of labor companies, working together, compromised federal safeguards designed to protect foreign and domestic workers.

Using a succession of companies, the conspirators illegally renewed temporary worker visas so foreign laborers could stay on the job long past the legal limit. Prosecutors alleged that Dougherty illegally promoted temporary foreign workers to supervisory positions without first checking to see whether U.S. workers wanted to fill those management positions.

Dougherty also allegedly asked hotels to inflate the numbers of the temporary seasonal workers they needed when he applied for their visas. This provided his firm and others with an illegal pool of cheap foreign labor that he could offer to other businesses.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/28/2367269/grand-jury-convicts-businessman.html#ixzz143plQC4h

American woman accused of human trafficking denied bail

For so long, we have been trained that Traffickers will always trafficker people from their own country. However, this particular case breaks that rule. This is an American who was trafficking women from Latin American countries. As I ave mentioned before, traffickers can be anyone. There is no specific requirement for a person to be a trafficker. This is why this crime is so dangerous. Anyone at anytime can get into the trafficking business. This is a business that is less dangerous and as lucrative as the drug trafficking industry. It is sad to see more and more people jimp on the trafficking wagon.

American woman accused of human trafficking denied bail

Tanesha Mundle

Friday, October 29, 2010

LYNN Scantlebury — the United States citizen who along with her stepfather have been accused of trafficking exotic dancers into the island and forcing them into prostitution — was yesterday denied bail in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

The 23-year-old home health aide and her 41-year-old stepfather Anthony Parker were arrested on September 16 when police raided the Latin Movement Night Club on Dunrobin Avenue and a house in the posh upper St Andrew community of Cherry Gardens.

Thirteen persons, including six foreign dancers (four Panamanians and two from the Dominican Republic) and several minors were detained during the operations.

Parker and Scantlebury are both charged with seven counts of facilitating the offence of human trafficking, seven counts of conspiracy, eight counts of human trafficking, a count of money laundering and withholding travel documents.

Yesterday, when the matter was mentioned in court, attorney George Soutar appealed to Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey for Scantlebury to be released on bail. But the judge refused on the grounds that the suspect is a flight risk.

Soutar tried persuading the magistrate to change her mind, indicating that the court could order the seizure of his client’s travel documents and impose a stop order.

Scantlebury and Parker are to return to court on Monday.

Allegations are that Parker, Scantlebury and others recruited females from several foreign countries, forced them into prostitution and laundered the money derived from the illegal operation to benefit them.

I love Facebook but…..

Please read this if you have children who have a facebook account. Unfortunately there are people on this site that are seeking children either for their own pleasure or for a way to make money.

Child pornography trafficked on Facebook
Posted on Oct 28, 2010 | by Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Facebook houses a subculture dedicated to trafficking child pornography and interacting with potential victims, according to an investigative report by FoxNews.com.

The social network site says it is doing all it can to keep pedophile materials from being displayed, but the news organization found plenty of suggestive and potentially illegal photographs of children on the website.

“Where kids play, predators prey. Predators and pedophiles are taking advantage of this site to target children, swap child pornography and share their exploits,” Donna Rice Hughes, president of Enough Is Enough, said in response to the report.

“It is entirely unacceptable that Facebook has allowed this content to surface on its site, and I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg.”

After uncovering the subculture of child pornography on Facebook, FoxNews.com spent 90 minutes on the phone with two Facebook executives, including the company’s chief security officer, leading them click-by-click through what they found.

The executives were “dumbfounded, unaware of and unable to explain the extremely graphic content on the site,” FoxNews.com reported Oct. 21. They were shocked that their filters had failed, and later some of the material was blocked but much of it remained available to the public.

“We’re constantly looking to improve our filter system,” Joe Sullivan, Facebook’s chief security officer, said. “As we get more information and tactics, we’ll use that to inform our system to make it even better.”

Displaying child pornography is against Facebook’s terms of use, and Facebook’s filter system utilizes a list of keywords from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. One challenge in blocking all illicit material, the company said, is that some keywords that child pornographers use have double meaning and are harmless in some cases.

“Some terms on these lists, including code words and acronyms, have multiple meanings, which makes it difficult to block them upfront without also preventing legitimate uses,” Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said.

“We do a careful evaluation of each term and consider both the potential for abuse and the frequency with which the term is used in other contexts when making decisions on whether to block or flag,” Axten said.

But Hemanshu Nigam, co-chairman of President Obama’s Online Safety Technology Working Group, told FoxNews.com that the mass of pedophile content on Facebook would have been rooted out if the company were doing its job properly.

“The fact that Facebook missed the most basic terms in the terminology of child predators suggests that they’ve taken a checkbox approach instead of implementing real solutions to help real problems facing children online,” Nigam said.

Hughes, of Enough Is Enough, said the investigation underscores the fact that parents must be involved when their children use Facebook. A world of dangerous, exploitative content is just a few clicks away from any unsuspecting or curious teenager, she said.

“Over the past 10 years, we have seen a sort of perfect storm scenario emerge for Internet-initiated sexual crime against children,” Hughes said. “Never before have predators and pedophiles been able to hold a town hall together to share their exploits and encourage this type of horrific behavior, but now, through sites like Facebook, they can do just that.

“We find that these individuals are often at the cutting edge of technology, they have easy access to child pornography and to children, and law enforcement, the technology industry and parents are often left in the dust, which is why we focus on reaching those parents and educating about prevention,” Hughes said.

Enough Is Enough provides guidance for parents called Internet Safety Rules ‘N Tools, online at internetsafety101.org, including such tips as:

— Establish an ongoing dialogue and keep lines of communication open.

— Supervise use of all Internet-enabled devices.

— Know your child’s online activities and friends.

— Regularly check the online communities your children use, such as social networking and gaming sites, to see what information they are posting.

— Supervise the photos and videos your kids post and send online.

— Discourage the use of webcams and mobile video devices.

— Teach your children how to protect personal information posted online and to follow the same rules with respect to the personal information of others.

“Parents have to remain alert,” Hughes said.
–30–
Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Erin Roach.

This is an interesting case…..

Man pleads guilty to pimping out his wife
Login or register to post comments

Printer friendly version
Sign up for our Email Editions
Submitted by sfiecke on October 28, 2010 – 5:17pm.
» Read similar stories filed under: General NewsPolice and Courts

Ivan Lavrusik, the 28-year-old man accused of pimping out his wife in an escort service he ran out of their Shakopee townhome, pleaded guilty this morning in Scott County District.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Lavrusik pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of an individual, a felony, and endangering a child with firearm access, a gross-misdemeanor. Two other charges — profiting from prostitution and drug possession — are to be dismissed.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10. Prosecutors and Lavrusik agreed to a 60-day floor and 180-day cap of jail time.

Lavrusik’s wife, Luba, is charged with intention to participate in prostitution, a misdemeanor, as well as the same firearm charge as him. Her next court hearing is Dec. 16.

The couple, who have a 4-year-old daughter, are going through divorce proceedings.

Op-ed by Hillary Rodham Clinton: An end to human trafficking

Op-ed by Hillary Rodham Clinton: An end to human trafficking
Submitted by the US Embassy Nassau
Saturday, 30 October 2010 08:12
Elementary students across America are taught that slavery ended in the 19th Century. But, sadly, nearly 150 years later, the fight to end this global scourge is far from over. Today it takes a different form and we call it by a different name — “human trafficking” — but it is still an affront to basic human dignity in the United States and around the world.

The estimates vary widely, but it is likely that somewhere between 12 million and 27 million human beings are suffering in bondage around the world. Men, women and children are trapped in prostitution or labor in fields and factories under brutal bosses who threaten them with violence or jail if they try to escape. Earlier this year, six ”recruiters” were indicted in Hawaii in the largest human trafficking case ever charged in U.S. history. They coerced 400 Thai workers into farm labor by confiscating their passports and threatening to have them deported.

I have seen firsthand the suffering that human trafficking causes. Not only does it result in injury and abuse—it also takes away its victims’ power to control their own destinies. In Thailand I have met teenage girls who had been prostituted as young children and were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe I have met mothers who lost sons and daughters to trafficking and had nowhere to turn for help. This is a violation of our fundamental belief that all people everywhere deserve to live free, work with dignity, and pursue their dreams.

For decades, the problem went largely unnoticed. But 10 years ago this week, President Clinton signed the Trafficking Victims’ Protection Act, which gave us more tools to bring traffickers to justice and to provide victims with legal services and other support. Today, police officers, activists, and governments are coordinating their efforts more effectively. Thousands of victims have been liberated around the world and many remain in America with legal status and work permits. Some have even become U.S. citizens and taken up the cause of preventing traffickers from destroying more lives.

This modern anti-trafficking movement is not limited to the United States. Almost 150 countries have joined the United Nations’ Trafficking Protocol to protect victims and promote cooperation among countries. More than 116 countries have outlawed human trafficking, and the number of victims identified and traffickers imprisoned is increasing each year.

But we still have a long way to go. Every year, the State Department produces a report on human trafficking in 177 countries, now including our own. The most recent report found that 19 countries have curtailed their anti-trafficking efforts, and 13 countries fail to meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and are not trying to improve.

It is especially important for governments to protect the most vulnerable – women and children – who are more likely to be victims of trafficking. They are not just the targets of sex traffickers, but also labor traffickers, and they make up a majority of those trapped in forced labor: picking cotton, mining rare earth minerals, dancing in nightclubs. The numbers may keep growing, as the global economic crisis has exposed even more women to unscrupulous recruiters.

We need to redouble our efforts to fight modern slavery. I hope that the countries that have not yet acceded to the U.N. Trafficking Protocol will do so. Many other countries can still do more to strengthen their anti-trafficking laws. And all governments can devote more resources to finding victims and punishing human traffickers.

Citizens can help too, by advocating for laws that ban all forms of exploitation and give victims the support they need to recover. They can also volunteer at a local shelter and encourage companies to root out forced labor throughout their supply chains by visiting http://www.chainstorereaction.com.

The problem of modern trafficking may be entrenched, but it is solvable. By using every tool at our disposal to put pressure on traffickers, we can set ourselves on a course to eradicate modern slavery