The New Generation of Sex Trafficking
On Sat. Jan 14 an attentive audience listened to Pete Orput talk about the “Major Crimes Unit” which was established by the Washington County Attorney’s office. This unit began for the purpose of prosecuting economic crimes and was soon overwhelmed by child prostitution and other sex trafficking cases. Orput explained that prostitution isn’t on the street corner anymore. It includes pimps finding 16-17 year old girls for party buses or stag parties via the internet. Because the younger generation is an on-line generation, connections are made via the internet’s various pages like Back Page (recently shut down) Adult Friend Finder, snap-chat etc. where they target vulnerable young girls. There is a working group on Sex Trafficking with Minneapolis and St. Paul which the office coordinates with. Notably, Wash Co is only the 2nd County office in the Country doing major investigations into this type of crime. Pete gave some examples of young girls who were trapped into this complex cycle which can include: rape, kidnapping, narcotics and assault. In 2016 the unit, which includes a team of a prosecutor, law clerk, FT para-legal, law enforcement, program manager and others, had 41 ‘buyers’ arrested, 13 juvenile solicitation charges filed and 14 trafficker (pimps) cases charged. To find out more, you can download their latest informational brochure at: https://www.co.washington.mn.us/2521/Sex-Trafficking
Comments are closed.