Here’s a special announcement. Click here.
A UPD officer is hosting a human trafficking safety conference on Thursday. This event is happening at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. The goal of the conference is to raise awareness of what is happening on a local, state and national level on human trafficking. They wan to put it to an end. Texas ranks first in the nation for active human trafficking cases.
Texas is making a huge stride that could help give survivors a fresh new start. The governor’s office of Texas has announced that survivors of human trafficking and domestic abuse can apply for clemency and have their crimes pardoned. Their application would go to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and they would determine if they were forced to do the crime by the trafficker or abusive partner. If so, they could be pardoned for their crime.
In Waco, Texas a 34-year-old man was arrested last year on a felony charge involving child pornography. He is facing new charges of a second-degree charge. The new charge came when investigators found thousands of child pornography images. Australian law enforcement conducted a raid and informed U.S DHS of suspicious activity.
Houston, TX. Prosecutors were able to convince a judge to sentence Marilyn Joy Wilkes to 50-years in prison after Wilkes forced a 16-year old girl into sex trafficking for a month.
Ranch Hands Rescue in Denton County, Texas is opening a male survivors of sex trafficking home.
Ranch Hands Rescue is a counseling center and animal shelter that rescues animals from abuse or neglect and puts them in therapy to use for people who have been abused, exploited or traumatized by violence. Bob’s House of Hope will help men of ages 17 to 24.
Texas is the number 1 state in the county for human trafficking. San Antonio, Texas is the hub for trafficking. Interstate 10 and Interstate 35 are the main corridors. Maria Perez, a human trafficking survivor and the founder for Our Empowering Women of America, is helping local resources in fighting this problem. Lat year in Texas, they had 561 human trafficking cases. It’s not just teens that are being trafficking its men and woman of all age and races.
Uber rideshare is partnering with the Texas Attorney general to educate drivers on human trafficking. Assistant Attorney General Mallory Myers Vincent works with the Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section. It is estimated that there are 25 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. In the state of Texas, there are around are 79,000 victims of youth and minor sex trafficking. There are information sessions that are open this week in Dallas and Plano, Texas. This session will highlight the suspicious activity that uber drivers should watch out for.
While jailed in Austin, TX. Robbie Ann Hamilton asked God to help her quit drugs and to get out of that life. After participating in groups like Alchoholics Anonymous and New Friends New Life in rehab, she turned it around, committing her life to helping homeless addicts.
Houston, TX. lawyer Annie McAdams is part of team of attorneys that sued three major hotel chains this month on behalf of three sex trafficking victims in Houston. Prosecutors say one of the victims was 15 at the time a pimp drugged her and kept her working for a week at a Comfort Inn near the Southwest Freeway.
The Louisiana State Police arrested 11 people in Shreveport, including two East Texans, in an anti-human trafficking operation in the Shreveport-Bossier area.
Finding new and innovative ways to combat the demand for purchased sex, raise awareness to this nationwide epidemic, and provide safe environments for victims.