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Five Twin Cities residents were charged Tuesday in connection to a multi-state sex trafficking ring, according to the Ramsey County Attorney's office. Four of the five defendants are from St. Paul: 21-year-old Ishmael Jamaine Williams, 25-year-old Thomas William Evans, 28-year-old Yolanda Katrice Foster and 38-year-old Doris Marie Keller.
A Belle Fourche man convicted of trying to pay for sex with underage girls at the 2013 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
North Dakota lawmakers are considering several measures aimed at combating sex trafficking in the state.
wo Democratic U.S. senators from Minnesota and North Dakota are reintroducing bipartisan legislation in an effort to crack down on sex trafficking across the county. The Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act is modeled after Minnesota's "Safe Harbor" law, which protects sex trafficking victims from being prosecuted as defendants.
As awareness of America's sex-trafficking industry increases, state after state has enacted new laws to combat it. But while a few have backed those get-tough laws with significant funding to support trafficking victims, many have not.
A St. Paul man and woman have been found guilty of engaging in sex trafficking of a 15-year-old girl. According to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, Jonathan Edwards, 25, and Kauser Yusuf, 22, were found guilty of one count each of first-degree sex trafficking of a minor.
Moorhead police say they arrested a 32-year-old man in connection with a sex trafficking investigation Tuesday evening. According to police, a sex trafficking investigation led Moorhead detectives to an adult female victim. A suspect was then identified, located and arrested in south Moorhead at around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Minnesota is one of the worst states for sex-trafficking of women and underage girls in the country.
Authorities say nine people have been arrested in a child sex trafficking sting in the Eau Claire area.
A 25-year-old St. Paul man pleaded guilty Friday to one count of sex trafficking a minor. Dontre McHenry is accused of recruiting and trafficking teenage girls throughout Minnesota, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lugar. McHenry is suspected of coercing at least three girls under the age of 18 between January 2013 and March 2014.
The Minnesota Public Safety Department says sex-trafficking convictions have doubled in the past year. The state report released Wednesday says convictions for solicitation and promotion of prostitution and sex trafficking rose to 63 in 2013 from 31 in 2012.
A man and woman from Minneapolis have pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says 31-year-old David Nance and 26-year-old Ashley Crayton are charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
It's an ugly business. A new study by the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Women's Foundation reveals local victims of sex trafficking are recruited in places we like to think are safe havens.
A 25-year-old St. Paul man faces serious charges in connection with a "sophisticated, ongoing criminal sex trafficking business" he allegedly operated, according to the United States Attorney's Office.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is using Minnesota's sex trafficking laws as a way to improve safety across the country and the world. The state's "Safe Harbor" laws ensure children who are sold for sex are treated as victims, not prosecuted as criminals.
A suburban St. Louis man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for transporting five female victims for prostitution purposes between Missouri and five other states. Federal prosecutors say 45-year-old Barry Wimberly of Hazelwood, Mo., pleaded guilty in December to one felony count of transportation for purposes of prostitution.
A 30-year-old St. Paul man received the longest sentence ever imposed on anyone found guilty of sex-trafficking in Minnesota history. Otis Deno Washington was found guilty of first- and second-degree solicitation to practice prostitution (one involving a minor), two counts of promotion of prostitution, and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
A Chicago man was sentenced Friday to more than 26 years in prison for the sex trafficking of a teenage girl – which may be the longest sentence ever given in Minnesota for such a crime. According to the Ramsey County Attorney's office, Arteco Marvell Rhodes, 38, was found guilty on Nov. 1 on one count of engaging in sex trafficking in the first degree and possession of child pornography. Rhodes met the defendant, a 15-year-old girl, in Chicago in March, and asked her if she "wanted to make money and be part of the family." Within weeks, Rhodes drove the teen and a 19-year-old woman from Chicago to the Twin Cities in a conversion van.
For victims of sex trafficking in Minnesota, there are currently only two beds for shelter in the entire state. Now, a new shelter in St. Paul will change that.
Four family members have now been convicted for participating in a sex trafficking ring that last about two years, extended to multiple Minnesota communities and victimized many vulnerable women. On Wednesday, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office announced that 30-year-old Otis Deno Washington, of St. Paul, was found guilty in Ramsey County District Court on multiple sex trafficking counts. According to a press release, they are: two counts of promotion of prostitution; two counts of solicitation, one involving a minor; and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
A Ramsey County jury found a 27-year-old Brooklyn Park man guilty on Friday in connection with a human sex trafficking operation that involved numerous victims -- including women who were mentally slow or vulnerable -- across multiple Minnesota communities.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced new legislation to combat sex trafficking. The announcement was made at the Breaking Free" breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis. The breakfast was to benefit local sex trafficking victims.
A Ramsey County jury found a Chicago man guilty in the sex trafficking of a 15-year-old girl in St. Paul in April 2013. Arteco Marvell Rhodes, 38, was found guilty of possession of child pornography and he will be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Dec. 13.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office says in a release that a Logan County jury on Thursday convicted Preston Sanders, of St. Paul, Minn., of transporting a person under 18 knowing that person would be used for sex.
After five days of deliberation, a jury could not come to a unanimous decision in the case of a St. Paul sex trafficking ring that targeted vulnerable teenage girls, according to the Ramsey County Attorney. A trial date has now been set for early September, according to the attorney, in the case that prosecutes two brothers and their two uncles for sex trafficking at least 10 known victims.
