Sex Trafficking Within the U.S.
What is happening in the U.S.?
Most people assume that sex trafficking happens thousands of miles away and would never happen anywhere close to home. Sadly, this is not the truth. Our families are broken and torn by the effects of sex trafficking that happens everyday in our country.
The top four U.S. states for sex trafficking include...
1. New York
2. Nevada
3. Arizona
4. Georgia
The average age for individuals to enter into pornography and prostitution in the U.S. is now only twelve years old. On an average U.S. street pimps obtain about $400 an hour for prostitution of minor girls. Sadly, between 14,500 to 17,500 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked to
the U.S. every year.
What is happening in the state of Kentucky?
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline has received 370 calls coming from Kentucky. Also, the monthly average of calls has had a dramatic increase from 480 calls in 2008 to 1,620 in 2011. It was found that fifty-two percent of those calls where specific to sex trafficking. Over 300 of those calls came specifically from truckers reporting suspicious cases of children being sold for sex. It is recorded that major highway truck stops have become a frequent destination for children to be prostituted out as human traffickers are frequently moving from place to place.
Most people assume that sex trafficking happens thousands of miles away and would never happen anywhere close to home. Sadly, this is not the truth. Our families are broken and torn by the effects of sex trafficking that happens everyday in our country.
The top four U.S. states for sex trafficking include...
1. New York
2. Nevada
3. Arizona
4. Georgia
The average age for individuals to enter into pornography and prostitution in the U.S. is now only twelve years old. On an average U.S. street pimps obtain about $400 an hour for prostitution of minor girls. Sadly, between 14,500 to 17,500 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked to
the U.S. every year.
What is happening in the state of Kentucky?
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline has received 370 calls coming from Kentucky. Also, the monthly average of calls has had a dramatic increase from 480 calls in 2008 to 1,620 in 2011. It was found that fifty-two percent of those calls where specific to sex trafficking. Over 300 of those calls came specifically from truckers reporting suspicious cases of children being sold for sex. It is recorded that major highway truck stops have become a frequent destination for children to be prostituted out as human traffickers are frequently moving from place to place.
Marco Antonio Flores-Benitez
The local Lexington, KY news has recently presented a large case of human trafficking. Women were lured with the promise of legitimate work, but instead were forced or persuaded to perform sex acts for money. Some of the defendants drove and delivered the prostitutes to customers in Fayette, Woodford, Oldham and Jefferson counties. They operated a brothel at Cross Keys Drive in Lexington. Marco Antonio Flores-Benitez was the leader of this group and was sentenced this past July to 15 years in prison. Flores-Benitez was part of an interstate prostitution ring in Lexington that was busted in November by FBI agents and police. Flores-Benitez is thought to be the first person in Kentucky convicted of federal sex trafficking charges. What are the consequences? - Kentucky Law, KRS Chapter 529.00 - Class C Felony unless victim has serious physical injury, then it is a Class B Felony – AND – if victim is a minor, then it automatically raises level by 1 – i.e, if victim is a minor & has serious physical injury, then stacks to Class A Felony. |