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CHARLESTON, W. Va. (WHSV) — 20 Attorneys General from around the country asked President Trump for support in funding for a childcare protection program.
W. Va. AG Partick Morrisey is on board with the National Child ID Act, H.R. 4172, which would help parents, as well as law enforcement, in instances of abduction, exploitation and human trafficking.
This legislation would enable states to request grant funding for identification kits for children in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The identification kits would record a child’s physical characteristics, as well as take their fingerprints and DNA.
Charges were unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria. A 48-page FBI affidavit says the 13-year-old girl ran away from a group home in Fairfax in August 2018 with a 16-year-old friend who was connected to MS-13.A child trafficking task force found the 13-year-old girl nearly two months later at an apartment in Mount Rainier, Maryland.
The girl, initially reluctant to talk to police, eventually told authorities she was twice beaten on her backside and legs 26 times on two separate occasions with a baseball bat — once as an initiation to the gang, and once as a punishment for talking to rival gang members and allegedly stealing from fellow gang members.
The state of Virginia was ranked sixth for active cases in 2018 for human trafficking. The state had almost 200 reported cases in the 2018. Interstate 95 is the main concern for the state. State and local law enforcement are staying vigilant also help to aid the victims. A conference was held in November that offered training for criminal justice professions. In 2015, Virginia was the only state without human trafficking laws, later that year they implemented two new laws.
The General Assembly signed off on a new state job this year to evaluate and coordinate efforts to report these crimes and to educate others on how to spot cases to help survivors.
Foster Shane Gaines, 42, has pleaded guilty to operating a drug and sex trafficking ring from his prison cell in Represa, CA, where he was already serving an eight-year sentence for directing the prostitution of another woman. The trafficking ring, largely operating in Tidewater, VA, involved 10 adult women and two underage girls.
Salka Valerio recounted running away at 14 years old with a high school friend from her Virginia hometown to New York, to what she thought would be a safe place.
A former Stafford County high school track and field coach who is already behind bars for sexually abusing children and soliciting an underage victim for prostitution is facing additional charges in Spotsylvania County. Jackson has been convicted of multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and soliciting prostitution in Stafford County.
An indictment made public Friday in federal court in Alexandria charges Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, 60, with transporting a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Washington, D.C., in February 2000 and engaging in sex acts with him. Nader also pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting child-pornography images in Virginia in 1991. Nader is jailed as he awaits trial, which is set for Sept. 30.
P.S.A. from the USIAHT:
Investigators in Williamsburg, VA. are asking for the public’s help locating a man wanted in a sex trafficking case. Evan Anthony Cole, 29 is described as being 6’2” and 190 pounds. He has unique tattoos on his face, neck and hands. Anyone with information on where Cole is should contact Investigator Nichols at 757-220-6238 or call the Peninsula Crime Line at 1-888 LOCK-U-UP.
Virginia Beach, VA. Police did not release many details but said, “This is a joint effort between Homeland Security Investigations and the Virginia Beach Police Department to identify, stop and deter Human Trafficking in our area and to identify potential victims.”
Finding new and innovative ways to combat the demand for purchased sex, raise awareness to this nationwide epidemic, and provide safe environments for victims.
