Human Trafficking In The Local News
May 8, 2013:
Gregg MacDonald
"Sex Trafficking addressed at
McLean forum"
"Comstock told those at the
forum one such tale, where the boyfriend of a local high school girl wanted her
to have sex with other people, but the girl, not feeling right about it, wound
up telling her mother. 'That led police to a sex trafficking ring right
here in a local high school,' she said."
May 7, 2013:
Alex McVeigh
"McLean Forum Highlights Sex
Trafficking"
The
McLean Connection
"Del. Barbara Comstock (R-34)
and Del. Tim Hugo (R-40) joined Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10) and others at the McLean
Community Center Friday, May 3, to discuss the facts of human trafficking. The
U.S. State Department estimated that human trafficking is the third largest
source of profits for international organized crime, behind firearms and
narcotics."
May 7, 2013:
Opinion- Local Editorial
"Northern Virginia Becoming Sex
Trafficking Hotspot"
The
Washington Examiner
"Less
than a week after Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Virginia Republican Delegates Tim
Hugo and Barbara Comstock spoke in McLean about the growing problem of human
trafficking in Northern Virginia, three young women were rescued from a
Cleveland, Ohio, home where they had been held captive for 10 years. Two of the
victims were aged 14 and 16 when they went missing while walking home from
school and a job at Burger King."
May 3, 2013:
Jeff Goldberg
"Human Trafficking Forum Held In
McLean In Wake Of McLean
Discovery"
ABC
7 News
"The forum was held in the
aftermath of the discovery of two women at a McLean home who authorities believe
were trafficked for sex. The house, located on Orris Street, is registered as
owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
May 3, 2013:
Bob Barnard
"VA Leaders Hold Town Hall
Meeting On Human Trafficking"
Fox
5 DC
"Experts [are] telling us the
commercial sex trade in northern Virginia should make all parents sit up and
listen.They say if your daughter goes to school or spends time on
Facebook, she is vulnerable to sex traffickers."
May 3, 2013:
Adam Kredo
"The Slave Next Door"
Washington
Free Beacon
"People come in through our
airports, they're trafficked in our hotels. Young girls are solicited in malls
and dragged into this heinous crime," Comstock said. "These girls have been
drugged, brought into human trafficking, and abused in just horrible
ways."
May 3, 2013:
Kathy Stewart
"New Law Addresses Sex
Trafficking In Virginia"
WTOP
Radio
"Delegate Tim Hugo sponsored
a bill that will become law on July 1, making soliciting
a minor for sex a felony. His colleague Del. Barbara Comstock, R-McLean,
co-sponsored the legislation, which is intended to make it harder for people to
be involved in the sex trafficking trade."
April 6, 2012:
Michael Lee Pope
The
Connection
Newspapers
"Court records reveal a violent underworld in Northern Virginia, one in
which young women are raped and sold into a life of slavery as gang members
greet each other with a "Crip handshake." The court file is a paper trail of
rape, armed robbery, drug running, arms trading and racketeering. It's a story
that unfolds across Northern Virginia, from the halls of Fairfax County high
schools to a Travel Lodge in Old Town."
CONCLUSION:
The
case highlighted in this April 2012
story prompted Detective Bill Woolf of the Fairfax County
Police Department to ask for a change in the law regarding prostitution and gang
violence. We passed my bill HB 546
to crack down on those engaged in human trafficking
and to add penalties and tools for prosecutors. HB 546
addresses the growth of gangs such as MS-13 operating prostitution rings in our
area who are now engaged in this heinous crime. These criminal traffickers have
victimized women and girls in our area, exploiting them as part of their crime
operations.
|