New Shelter for CSEC Victims

Great news! Boston’s DCF has taken the lead to open a CSEC specialized home before anyone else in the country, and we will keep advocating for this until we can get it here too….
-Sandy

DSS to help teen sex slaves
Figures: 70 percent of prostitutes are runaways

By Marie Szaniszlo
Sunday, June 15, 2008
http://www.bostonherald.com

The state Department of Social Services will open more than a dozen beds for youngsters next month as part of a groundbreaking $1 million program to help victims of sexual exploitation.

Beginning July 1, DSS will reserve nine beds at a secure, undisclosed Boston location for girls ages 12 to 21, most of whom are former runaways who were coerced into prostitution, said Jennifer Kritz, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

The move comes amid a spike in cases of runaway teens who become prostitutes. “In recent years, there have been growing concerns nationally about youth exploitation and human trafficking,” Kritz said.

Lisa Goldblatt-Grace, director of the My Life, My Choice prostitution prevention program at the Home For Little Wanderers in Boston, called DSS’s program “groundbreaking, both for Massachusetts and nationally.”

“This is the first time in our entire country that a child-protective services system has stepped up to the plate in terms of providing money, resources and time to fund a continuum of care for commercially, sexually exploited kids,” Goldblatt-Grace said.

Statistics released in 2007 from the Teen Prostitution Prevention Project indicated that 70 percent of underage prostitutes identified in Suffolk County since 2005 are runaways. Nationwide, National Runaway Switchboard estimates that 1.6 to 2.8 million youths run away every year, and many are vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

Last week, a 17-year-old runaway from Boylston who had been kidnapped and forced into prostitution in New York was found shaking and beaten in Brighton after she bolted from her captor’s car. The victim gave a description of the car and her alleged kidnapper was arrested.

The state also is setting aside five beds for girls, boys and transgender youngsters in private homes with foster parents specially trained to work with teenagers who have been sexually exploited, Kritz said.

“There’s definitely a huge need for safe beds for these kids,” said Stacy Dellorfano, development officer at Bridge Over Troubled Waters in Boston. “A lot of these kids come from broken families. They’re runaways - sometimes throwaways - who fall into the wrong hands.”

All 14 youngsters, as well as approximately three dozen others referred by DSS, also will have a mentor to help guide them, Kritz said.

“In most communities, child protective services say this is a juvenile justice problem,” Goldblatt-Grace said. “In Boston, we know these are kids who have survived, who are strong and who have a right to have adults who don’t betray them and don’t exploit them and instead go to great lengths to ensure their safety so that they can find hope.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1100873

"HOLLY" screening in Coral Gables 5/16

Mexican national pleads guilty to human trafficking

*KUDOS to the hardworking investigators and prosecutors who tirelessly worked almost ten years to see justice!*

By Missy Diaz | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 9, 2008

A Mexican national has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle Mexican women and girls into the United States and force them into prostitution, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa, 43, is one of 16 defendants charged in 1998 with smuggling the women and girls from Mexico to Florida and South Carolina. Cadena-Sosa remained a fugitive until November 2007 when he was extradited from Mexico to the United States.
Nine of the defendants, including Cadena-Sosa, have now been convicted in federal court; one was convicted in state court and another was convicted on related charges in Mexico. A third defendant died while a fugitive. Three remain at large.

According to federal court documents, Cadena-Sosa, his brothers and a nephew operated a number of brothels, some staffed by girls younger than 18, throughout South Florida. The women and girls were smuggled into the country primarily from Veracruz, Mexico, by Cadena-Sosa and his associates. Once in the United States, the women and girls were informed that they owed a debt to the Cadena organization for bringing them here and that they would be required to repay the debt by working as prostitutes. The women were not allowed to leave the organization. Those that tried to escape were tracked down. The men used physical violence and threats of physical harm to intimidate the women and girls, according to court records.

Cadena-Sosa, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, will be sentenced on Aug. 20. He faces 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Prosecutions of human trafficking cases have increased seven-fold over the past seven fiscal years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Missy Diaz can be reached at mdiaz@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5505.

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Video

This 30-minute awareness-raising video is courtesy of Shared Hope International, who has also conducted several studies on domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States, including the one below on Clearwater, Florida. Visit their website for more information. The video will also be embedded into the sidebar of this blog.

Florida TV Station Sheds Light on Sex Trafficking of Minors

A Clearwater/Tampa Bay study on the sex trafficking of minors was recently released (see previous post for a link to the study). The CSEC Working Group is conducting a similar study in Miami with the goal of garnering awareness for commercially exploited children.

Florida CSEC Study

Click on the following link to view the closest study done to Miami to date.  This study was conducted in the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area by Shared Hope International. 

 http://www.sharedhope.org/files/FINAL_Clearwater_032408.pdf

2 Young Girls in Sex-Abuse Tapes ID'd

Miami Herald April 8, 2008
By Ani Martinez

Two young girls who were allegedly videotaped or photographed by a 36-year-old Hollywood man accused of sexually abusing underage girls have been identified by authorities.

Matthew Sheley faces one count of sexual performance by a child and one count of sexual battery on a child less than 12 years old, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. He is accused of sexually abusing underage female victims and videotaping the encounters -- a capital offense.

Investigators identified the female victim in the videotape in Sheley's former residence. A second juvenile victim was identified through photographs, FDLE said.
Police are still trying to find other victims, who authorities suspect were possibly between the ages of 7 and 9.

Hallandale Beach detectives and FDLE investigators said they issued several search warrants and have seized videotapes, computer equipment and other items.
The challenge for police: The reported crimes occurred at least five years ago and few clues exist to identity the victims.

''We are looking at hundreds of videotapes, but we have not been able to identify a victim by name,'' said Andrew Casper, a spokesman for Hallandale Beach police. ``We are concerned about their whereabouts.''

''Additional child pornography-related charges are pending,'' Casper said. ``We believe there are possibly other tapes and other victims.''

''This is going to be a long, long process,'' he added.

Click here for the rest of the article: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/487639.html