An update on the baby selling case from Daytona

Mother Arrested In ‘Grandson For Sale’ Case
Posted: 12:16 pm EST November 9, 2010
Updated: 1:31 pm EST November 9, 2010

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The mother of a baby, who a Volusia County grandmother is accused of trying to sell for $30,000, is behind bars Tuesday. Investigators said she was in on the whole thing.

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The baby’s grandmother, Patty Bigbee, was arrested Friday after undercover agents busted her trying to sell her 8-week-old grandson. The baby’s mother, Stephannie Bigbee-Davis is also facing charges in the case.

Investigator say Patty Bigbee wanted the money for a new car. She practically had the keys in her hand. She’d already been to the dealership to talk about financing.

Detectives say Stephannie Bigbee-Davis thought she was getting $9,000 for the sale of her child and she didn’t know the final sales price was $30,000.

Stephannie was charged with trying to sell her 8-week-old son Aiden. Investigators said that it was her sister, a sister she may not have even known about, who was going to be the buyer and who eventually tipped off investigators to the whole plan.

It was this summer that Patty used Facebook to track down a daughter, Danielle Skiver, whom she gave up for adoption 27 years ago. Then about 10 days ago, Patty offered to give Skiver the baby she was taking care of and then started asking for money.

Skiver went to investigators, who then worked undercover, until the baby was about to change hands in Daytona Beach last week.

Investigators said the sale was all about greed.

“They obviously had a lack of humanity. They were going to sell this baby and take the proceeds to buy cars and other goods that they felt they needed to live their life,” Wayne Ivey of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Stephannie had signed over parental rights to the baby. WFTV learned the baby’s father, is Charles Shinka. He has not been charged yet, but reports say he and Stephannie were interested in having more kids so they could sell them.

Sixty-Nine Children Rescued During Operation Cross Country V

4 children were rescued from the Tampa Bay area. I am glad to see our FBI agents take a proactive stance against child sex trafficking.

Washington, D.C.
November 08, 2010 FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

— filed under: Crimes Against Children, Field Cases, Breaking News, Press Release, Human Trafficking
Over the past 72 hours, the FBI, its local and state law enforcement partners, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) concluded Operation Cross Country V, a three-day national enforcement action as part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative. The operation included enforcement actions in 40 cities across 34 FBI divisions around the country and led to the recovery of 69 children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, nearly 885 others, including 99 pimps, were arrested on state and local charges.

“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces,” said Shawn Henry, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. “There is no work more important than protecting America’s children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization. Through our strategic partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, we are able to make a difference.”

Task Force operations usually begin as local actions, targeting such places as truck stops, casinos, street “tracks,” and Internet websites, based on intelligence gathered by officers working in their respective jurisdictions. Initial arrests are often violations of local and state laws relating to prostitution or solicitation. Information gleaned from those arrested often uncovers organized efforts to prostitute women and children across many states. FBI agents further develop this information in partnership with U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and file federal charges where appropriate.

To date, the 39 Innocence Lost Task Forces and Working Groups have recovered over 1,200 children from the streets. The investigations and subsequent 625 convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences, including multiple 25-years-to-life sentences and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in assets.

In the spring of 2003, the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the Department of Justice’s CEOS and NCMEC, formed the Innocence Lost National Initiative to address the growing problem of children forced into prostitution.

“The leadership of the FBI and the Justice Department in attacking domestic child trafficking and prostitution is historic,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “Once again, Operation Cross Country has awakened the nation to the fact that today, American children are being marketed and sold for sex in American cities. These kids are victims. This is 21st century slavery. We are proud to be a part of this extraordinary partnership to rescue children, save lives, and bring the pimps and operators to justice.”

This program brings state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers all from around the country to NCMEC, where the groups are trained together. In addition, CEOS has reinforced the training by assigning prosecutors to help bring cases in those cities plagued by child prostitution.

The FBI thanks the over 2,100 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers representing 186 separate agencies who participated in Operation Cross Country and ongoing enforcement efforts.

The charges announced today are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

For more information on Operation Cross Country and the Innocence Lost National Initiative, visit http://www.fbi.gov, http://www.justice.gov, or http://www.ncmec.org.

Baby for sale? $75,000? How about $30,000?

Most people believe that the practice of selling babies only happens in thrid world countries. Most people would believe that this can not occur in the United States. However, this past weekend showed us that an American is capabale of selling a child, just like any other person from a third country would do. This past weekend in Daytona Beach, a grandmother and her boyfriend were arrested for attempting to sell an 8 week old boy for $75,000. However before the arrest, the agents working on the case were able to talk her down to $30,000.
This is not isolated incident. This happens all oer the U.S, more often that we would like to admit that it does. Most ot the time, these types of cases do not make it into the media in order to protect the child. We need to continue raising awareness on this issue. We need to speak up and let out lawmakers know that we need stronger laws to protect our children. There are too many loopholes in our child welfare system.
I am happy to hear that this child is safe.

Cops: Grandma Offers To Sell Grandson For $75K
Posted: 5:41 pm EDT November 5, 2010
Updated: 12:55 pm EST November 8, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 44-year-old grandmother who tried to sell her 8-week-old grandson was given $100,000 bond during her first appearance Saturday morning.

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Patty Bigbee of Holly Hill was arrested Friday afternoon. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said Bigbee approached someone in October and offered to sell the infant for $75,000. After a series of negotiations, the price for the purchase of the baby was agreed upon at $30,000.

Bigbee and the prospective buyer met to complete the sale shortly after 4:00pm Friday in Daytona Beach. At the transaction, FDLE agents arrested Bigbee and turned the infant over to the care of the Department of Children and Families.

A tip led detectives to Bigbee. According to investigators, Bigbee and her boyfriend, 42-year-old Lawrence Works, may have used the internet to find the buyer. Works also made his first appearance Saturday morning. His bond was set at $50,000.

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The child’s mother, Stephannie Bigbee-Davis is in jail in Manatee County on unrelated charges of organized fraud. The Florida Department of Children and Families said in court Saturday that it could not contact the baby’s father. The judge said the child will remain in protective custody until different arrangements can be made.

Bigbee did not say anything to WFTV as she was hauled off to the Volusia County Jail Friday night on charges of illegal sale or surrender of a child as well as communication fraud.

Sources told WFTV that Bigbee has been involved before in giving away babies and extorting people for money.

Film Targets Child Sex Trafficking in Georgia

By: JULIA HARDING/myfoxatlanta

ATLANTA – Law enforcement agencies indicate child sex trafficking is big business in Atlanta and a local filmmaker is trying to do something to stop it.

Recent numbers show more than 400 girls are sexually exploited each month in Georgia.

The film, “The Candy Shop” premiered at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre Monday night. The film shines a bright light on the problem of child trafficking in Georgia.

“The definition of lust is to turn a human being into an object and so we wanted to symbolize that in the film,” said director Brandon McCormick.

McCormick said he decided to make the film after he learned hundreds of children are trafficked each month in Georgia.

“I learned about the stats about Atlanta. I live 15 minutes north of the city and realized in my backyard up to 500 girls a month are trafficked for sex in this city,” McCormick said.

McCormick said the film is in illustration of what happens when kids are sold for sex.

“There’s a candy shop owner who has a machine in his basement. He lures children in, they go in one side of the machine and come out candy on the other side and he sells it to the men,” said Cheryl Deluca-Johnson of Street Grace, an advocacy group aimed at ending child exploitation.

“I’m the metaphor for all the pimps out there that are taking children and selling them for rape. That’s really what it is,” said actor Doug Jones.

According to recent survey, 7,200 men will buy sex with an adolescent female in a given month in Georgia and most of the men come from outside of the perimeter.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement young girls are targeted and lured through postings in the newspaper and flyers. ICE agents say many girls are promised modeling careers and better opportunities.

Atlanta police investigators say a lot of the sex trafficking of children occurs not just on the streets of Atlanta but on the internet and they have an entire unit dedicated to combating the problem.

“They were being kidnapped off the MARTA train when I was here, also at Underground and then they were being sold along Metropolitan Avenue,” said Assistant District Attorney David Cook.

The executive director of Street Grace said the recent studies show the demand for child trafficking in Georgia is coming, mostly from men outside the perimeter and specifically, north of the perimeter.

Banning Craigslist erotic ads won’t stop online sex trade: Police

The federal government wants Craigslist to stop running erotic services classified ads because they promote prostitution.

But one New Westminster police officer, specializing in Internet crime against children and women, says banning the ads won’t put an end to the online marketing of prostitution.

Those involved in the sex industry will find another way to sell their services, said Det. Mike MacFarlane with the New Westminster Police Services.

“If they take off these erotic services ads it’s just going to show up somewhere else or on some other website,” he said. “The ads will pop up somewhere else. You just can’t make these things go away.”

Last Thursday federal justice minister Rob Nicholson said he wrote Craiglist, the free online advertiser, requesting they remove the classified section for erotic services.

MacFarlane, who has helped catch Internet predators from as far away as Australia, said sex-trade advertisers have plenty of alternatives.

He gives the example LimeWire to explain how criminal activity keeps resurfacing on the Internet. U.S. law enforcement and the courts cracked down on the Internet-based peer-to-peer file sharing program and website to stop the widespread sharing of child pornography.

When that happened, more peer-to-peer websites sharing child born were launched. That made it more difficult for law enforcement to target those involved in the illegal activity, he said.

“It’s a complex issue not easily solved,” said MacFarlane.

Craigslist is also a daunting task for police to monitor.

The California-based company has more than 700 sites around the world, specific to regions and cities, including Craigslist Vancouver (http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca).

On Thursday MacFarlane searched Craigslist Vancouver and found more than 400 erotic service ads listing New Westminster as the location they do business in.

Most of the ads offer sexual or sensual services, said MacFarlane.

“The actual advertising doesn’t say it but it’s pretty obvious. You have to read between the lines,” he said.

The ads also don’t indicate if children or victims of human trafficking are offering the services. And police are unlikely to investigate each ad unless they receive a complaint of suspected criminal behaviour.

“It would be extremely costly and time consuming to investigate each one,” said MacFarlane. “It’s not as simple as driving up to your street corner girls to talk to because they’re readily available.”

Craigslist recently dropped the erotic services classified sections in the United States after complaints the ads promoted prostitution and human trafficking.

Justice minister Nicholson wants the exotic services ads removed in Canada because he says Craigslist does not take precautions to make sure ads aren’t facilitating child exploitation.

Craigslist has specific regulations against ads promoting prostitution, child pornography and exploitation and other illegal activities. However, the ads are largely regulated by users who can flag ads that break the rules.

Craigslist also states, “Suspected human trafficking and exploitation of minors should be reported to law enforcement,” in its online erotic services section.

• Last month a Burnaby man was charged with running four brothels in Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam and Richmond. The nine women found in the homes were from Hong Kong and forced into prostitution when they came to Canada, say Burnaby RCMP.

The suspect used the Craigslist erotic services section to advertise.