A regular traffic stop helped police to rescue a missing girl who was being trafficked to Chicago by an older man.
Ross found a young girl riding with an older male inside the Sentra. The girl and the man had no identification on them and didn’t speak English.
They were of El Salvadoran descent and a translator was called to the spot. The police found out that the girl was 15 years old and the man was 35 years old.
Police investigated from its databases that the girl was a missing juvenile from New Jersey. The man had forced her into sex acts and she was being taken to Chicago.
The police arrested the man and charged him with abduction. He’s currently at the Lucas County jail while the girl is at a hospital for medical care.
Graham committed the crimes by posting advertisements on Backpage—the largest human-trafficking portal in the United States—and forced or coerced individuals who responded to the advertisements to commit commercial sex acts. Specifically, he transported two individuals between Wisconsin and Virginia with the intent they engage in prostitution.
The FBI shut down Backpage in April 2018. In the same month, President Donald Trump signed into law the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or SESTA-FOSTA, that stopped the shielding of website operators from state criminal charges or civil liability if they facilitate sex ads or prostitution.Graham’s scheme was uncovered by law enforcement officials in April 2017 when they found one of the victims at a Madison hotel. A hotel employee at the time called 911 after the victim ran from her room bleeding and hid behind the front desk. The victim was strangled to the point of unconsciousness by Graham when she told him she wanted to leave.
In their testimony, the victims said they were forced to engage in prostitution and to hand over the money they earned to Graham and his girlfriend, Patience Moore, 28, of Madison. The victims said they were the only source of income for Graham and his girlfriend. Moore pleaded guilty on March 14 for her role in the sex trafficking scheme.
“Through violence and coercion, Graham exploited vulnerable young women into committing commercial sex acts for his profit,” U.S. Attorney Scott C. Blader said in a statement. “In the process the victims were often degraded and robbed of their human dignity. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to bring human traffickers to justice.”
Graham’s sentencing is scheduled for July 1. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and a maximum of life in federal prison. Moore will be sentenced on June 5 and also faces a maximum of life in federal prison.
Demand Down
A report shared with The Epoch Times on April 11 found that demand for online sex-trafficking has dropped as the operators of smaller sites struggle to stay afloat, following the shutdown of Backpage.One key finding from the report—that’s prepared for use by law enforcement agencies across the United States—was that web traffic to advertising websites selling sex drew only 5 to 8 percent of the total unique visitors that Backpage drew at its height in 2016.
After Backpage was shut down, a number of other popular sites at the time also closed down or discontinued their activities. As a consequence, the search volume for sex dropped 90 percent in the months following April 2018, the report found.
