Here’s a special announcement. Click here.
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Here’s a special announcement. Click here.
Human trafficking can be an invisible crime, but it’s happening right here in North Carolina. Stopping it will require a joint effort between individuals and organizations throughout the community. It’s often the people who don’t think they’re in a position to help who can make the greatest difference. Collaboration between individuals and community organizations is essential to increasing awareness, spotting trafficking, and improving services for victims.
Predators from North and South Carolina traveled to York County looking for sex with children as young as 10, deputies said Monday. Deputies said 10 people were arrested in “Operation Home Alone,” which was underway from March 10-14. The operation took place at several different spots, including an abandoned home in Fort Mill, South Carolina, deputies said.
“Seven of the 10 arrestees, dubbed as travelers, actually came to the residence or attempted to come to the residence of the operation,” deputies said. “The ages of the children they thought they were coming to have sex with were 10 to 17 years old.”
York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson described the web as having “holes” and “crannies” that can be used for people to prey on children.
Clinton, Iowa– The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office has assigned their first and only full-time human trafficking investigator. “They’re going to have somebody now that’s going to work with them from beginning to end,” said Sheriff Paula Dance. “Not just an officer that comes to take a report and you never see them again.”
A man from Mooresville, North Carolina has been arrested of sending explicit photos and arranging to pay for sex acts with an undercover officer he believed was a 15-year-old girl. His bond has been set for $50,000. He has been charged with charged with solicitation of a child by computer, solicitation of a minor for prostitution, dissemination obscene material and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
North Carolina
On Monday, March 9, special agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and investigators with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a residence located in Goldsboro associated with an ongoing human trafficking investigation.
Karen Lynn Anderson, 47, was arrested on Monday, March 9, 2020, and charged with one count of human trafficking of an adult victim. William Henry Thornton, 76, charged with one count of attempted first-degree forcible rape. Jeffrey Leon Harding, 48, charged with one count of possession of firearm by felon, one count of possession of a stolen firearm.
Lorenza Jenkins, 32 of Charlotte, NC. was charged with human trafficking of a child, possession of marijuana and heroin, and holding a child in sexual servitude. Jenkins is being held at the Mecklenburg County jail with bail set at $150,000. He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 24.
On Friday, Detroit, MI. police announced 31 felonies and 72 misdemeanors have been handed down from phase two of the operation. The 46 people taken into custody range in age from 25 to 60 years old, Dwyer said. He also said the prostitutes range in age from 18 to 60 years old.
Michael Thomas Bovino, 38, of Mooresville, NC, and nine others were arrested in an online child exploitation investigation involving 13 state and federal law enforcement agencies across North and South Carolina.
Zerrell Fuentes, 25, of Charlotte, NC, made a series of phone calls from inside jail to lay out a plan that had his wife, Brianna Wright, and mother, Tanya Fuentes, travel to Myrtle Beach, check into a hotel, then traffic three female minors as prostitutes in hopes to use the cash for Fuentes’s bail.
Safe House Project in North Carolina is looking to help add eight new beds to the already existing six in the state, and hoping to expand further as the group grows.
Finding new and innovative ways to combat the demand for purchased sex, raise awareness to this nationwide epidemic, and provide safe environments for victims.
