• 13 arrested in alleged sex trafficking ring

    NBC 4 New York

    Alleged members of the ring being arrested on Tuesday, April 30.

    By Michelle Kim, NBC New York

    Federal agents raided four brothels in and around New York City and arrested 13 people in an alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring dating back to 2008, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

    Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the suspects exploited dozens of women, trafficking some from Mexico to New York, to force them to work as sex slaves. NBC 4 New York cameras captured the raid on one of the brothels in Yonkers. Search warrants were also executed in brothels in Queens, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh.


    The criminal complaint alleges the suspects lured women to the U.S. by engaging them in romantic relationships and promising a better life in New York. Once they arrived, the victims were forced to work as prostitutes under "abhorrent conditions," often subject to abuse and threatened with harm to them and their family members.

    In a typical day, a Mexican sex trafficking victim in New York had sexual intercourse with 20 to 30 customers, with each customer usually paying about $30 to $35 for 15 minutes of sex, according to authorities.

    Of that money, half typically went to either the driver who took the victim to the client or to the residential brothel where the woman worked. The other half went to the victim, who was then typically forced to turn over all the money to the trafficker.

    The suspects charged Tuesday had different roles in the sex trafficking ring, operating brothels, driving victims to clients or brothels, dispatching drivers and recruiting and overseeing the women forced to work as prostitutes, according to the complaint.

    Two of the 13 suspects were already in federal custody on illegal reentry charges; another was arrested in Delaware. The rest were arrested in New York and appeared in the Manhattan federal court Tuesday afternoon.

  • Tattoo photos lead to woman's arrest in global child porn investigation

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    By Jonathan Lloyd and Lolita Lopez, NBCLosAngeles.com

    Five solid tips from people who told authorities that distinctive tattoos helped them recognize a woman seen in photos released Thursday as part of a child molestation investigation led to an arrest in an 11-year-old case involving "widely circulated" child pornography images.


    Letha Mae Montemayor, 52, was taken into custody Thursday night outside an apartment complex in North Hills in the San Fernando Valley.

    Authorities said they believe the woman is the individual -- identified as "Jane Doe" in a criminal complaint filed Monday -- who appears with an unidentified male in a series of photographs released Thursday afternoon as investigators hunted for leads in the child pornography case.

    "Just after ICE’s nationwide plea for public assistance, five separate community tips led to the arrest of Jane Doe," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton. "This arrest would not have happened without the public’s help, and it demonstrates how much individual citizens can do to help law enforcement attack crime."

    Also on NBCLosAngeles.com: Second suspect arrested in child porn case, ICE says

    An appearance in federal court for Montemayor, charged with one count of making child pornography, was scheduled for Monday.

    A neighbor of Montemayor's who did not want to be identified said the suspect was a "hoarder" who "did not take care of her body well" and was "rude to all the children."

    About 10 hours before her arrest, Morton and other law enforcement agents conducted a news conference regarding "Operation Sunflower," a recently concluded child sex crimes investigation that led to more than 240 arrests. During the news conference, authorities released images of a man and tattooed woman wanted in connection with a child molestation case authorities said occurred about 11 years ago, possibly in Los Angeles.

    "The (tipsters) said they recognized the face, the tattoos," said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Claude Arnold.

    "They were very confident that it was she. We expect that it would be more difficult because they were older images, but we were optimistic because they were good images."

    ice.gov

    These images released by federal authorities as part of a child porn investigation led to the arrest of a woman in Los Angeles.

    The woman's tattoos -- a sleeping cat, butterfly and other designs -- are visible in the photographs released Thursday.

    123 child victims of Internet sex abuse identified, US officials say

    But other clues in the background of the images, discovered by Chicago Homeland Security agents in 2007 and passed along to LA agents, prompted investigators to focus on locations in the San Fernando Valley. Forensics analysis of the images, conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, revealed details in the pictures, such as close-ups of the tattoos, a calendar from a store and a phonebook.

    The criminal complaint alleges that "Jane Doe," now identified as Montemayor, was involved in the production of child pornography images that were "widely circulated" online. The images depict the sexual molestation of a girl, who appears to be about age 13, according to ICE.

    Authorities have not identified the victim or male subject.

    "We still want the public’s help in identifying John Doe and the victim in the disturbing series of images that continue to be circulated on the Internet," said U.S. Attorney André Birotte.

    Call 866-347-2423 or visit this tips form to provide information. Click here to view the ICE wanted poster.

  • Fourth defendant pleads guilty in horrific Missouri sex-slave case

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    A fourth defendant has pleaded guilty in the case of a mentally deficient woman who was held as a sex slave and tortured in a trailer home for years in Missouri, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

    Michael Stokes, known as “The Rodent,” 63, of Lebanon, Mo., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., to his role in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

    Stokes is the last of four defendants convicted under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas City said that Stokes admitted having sex with the woman, engaging in torture sessions with her, and promoting her appearance in sadistic sessions in magazines and strip clubs.

    The horrific acts that the four men were accused of are contained in a news release from the U.S Attorney's Office.

    The other defendants:

    • Bradley Cook, also known as PutHer2GoodUse, 33, of Kirkwood, pleaded guilty on Dec. 20. From the news release: "Cook admitted that he traveled to Lebanon on multiple occasions during that time to engage in sessions of sexual acts and torture with the victim. ... He witnessed the victim being whipped and locked in a dog cage, as well as being tied up and shocked with multiple electrical devices."
    • Dennis Henry, 51, of Wheatland, formerly the postmaster of Nevada, Mo. From the news release: "Henry admitted that he engaged in sex with the victim, and participated in torture sessions with FV that would last for hours."
    • James Noel, 45, of Springfield. From the news release: "Noel watched the victim being tortured and sometimes operated torture devices himself beginning in 2006, when she was approximately 20 years old."

    Authorities said the woman was a mentally deficient runaway who was recruited by an older man at the age of 16 to live in his trailer. The situation came to light in early 2009, after the woman, then 23, landed in a hospital with cardiac arrest following what prosecutors said was a torture session.

    Prosecutors said the woman, who was 23 when the case came to light, was mentally deficient. But supporters of the defendants raised questions about whether the woman willingly participated.

    In addition to the four men convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, Edward Bagley Sr., 43, of Lebanon, faces federal charges, including conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and forced labor trafficking. Bagley's wife, Marilyn Bagley, 45, also faces federal charges of sex trafficking conspiracy.

    A graphic 21-page federal indictment described medieval-like sexual devices being used on the woman at Bagley's mobile home about six miles outside Lebanon, in southwest Missouri. Accusations of waterboarding, suffocation and beatings are mentioned throughout.

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