The Office of Victims of Crime released a new Human Trafficking Task Force e-Guide to provide practical information on the creation and day-to-day operations of human trafficking task forces. The e-Guide specifically mentions the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force as an example in sections describing collaboration, information sharing, and committees while imparting essential knowledge needed to identify and assist victims effectively and to investigate and prosecute cases of human trafficking. View the e-Guide here. 

A Chicago man pled guilty to sex trafficking charges and has been sentenced to five years in prison for posting the profile of a 17 year-old girl on an escort service website and taking the victim to a suburban motel to commit sex acts for money, according to the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Read the full press release here. 

A former suburban man who was living in Michigan when he was arrested in 2011 was convicted by a federal jury of sex-trafficking three victims, including two minors.  Fabriel Delaney was found guilty of all eight counts against him, including sex-trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and of minors.  Delaney, also known as “Face,” 28, formerly of Palatine, as well as Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Mich., faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life on multiple counts.  U.S. District Judge John Darrah scheduled sentencing for Dec. 10. Read the full press release here. 

A Chicago man was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison for forced sex-trafficking of two minor and two young adult women. The defendant, CARL BRANDON SMITH, forced his victims to engage in commercial sex acts, used physical violence, and threatened to kill them if they ever left him between 2010 and early 2012. Read the full press release here.

The Institute of Medicine and the  National Research Council have released a  guide for victim and support service providers summarizing their report "Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States." The guide highlights information relevant for providers of victim and support services and includes key terms, risk factors, emerging service strategies, challenges of providing services, and recommendations for preventing, identifying, and responding to these crimes.  The Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force and various core team partners are also specifically highlighted in this report. 

Read the full guide here. 

A man and a woman who allegedly prostituted two underage girls are facing federal charges filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. The task force is part of a nationwide effort known as the Innocence Lost National Initiative targeting those involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States.  The Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force assisted in the investigation.

Read the full press release here: http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2014/federal-charges-filed-against-two-defendants-for-alleged-sex-trafficking-of-minors

A federal jury today convicted a Bolingbrook man of running a sex trafficking ring between at least late 2009 and November 2010 that forced into prostitution at least four victims, including a minor who was 17 at the time. The defendant, McKENZIE CARSON, was found guilty on one count of sex trafficking a minor by force, fraud, and coercion, and three counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud,  and coercion. The jury deliberated less than two hours following a trial
that  began Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court. The guilty verdict was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney 
 for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert J. Holley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of investigation.

Read the full press release here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr1210_01.html

The Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force and service provider members get recognition for focusing on the complex issues surrounding labor trafficking. Read the article here.

State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez  announced today that a Calumet City man has been charged with the county’s  first case of labor trafficking for threatening, beating, burning and torturing  two mentally handicapped men, while he exploited
them for money and often  denied them food for several months in an apartment on Chicago’s South  Side. 

Read the full press release here: http://www.statesattorney.org/press_SuburbanLaborTrafficking.html

With support from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council formed a committee to conduct a study of these crimes as they affect U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States under age 18. The committee was asked to make recommendations concerning strategies for responding to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States, new legislative approaches, and a research agenda.

In its report, Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States, the committee concludes that efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States require better collaborative approaches that build upon the capabilities of people and entities from a range of sectors. 

Read the report brief and download the full PDF here: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/Confronting-Commercial-Sexual-Exploitation-and-Sex-Trafficking-of-Minors-in-the-United-States/Report-Brief092513.aspx

Bond  was set at $600,000 today for an Evanston man charged with human trafficking-  related offenses for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old runaway, severely  beating the young girl and forcing her into acts of prostitution, according to  the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. 

Read the full press release here:
http://www.statesattorney.org/index2/press_EvanstaonManSexTrafficking.html

A Milwaukee man was arrested on a federal charge of sex-trafficking a minor and the alleged 15-year-old victim, from Madison, Wis., was returned to her home, federal law enforcement authorities announced today. 

Read the full press release here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0917_01.html

A Chicago  man previously convicted in Cook County for sex trafficking has been arrested  and charged again with sex trafficking offenses and kidnapping for transporting  a young woman to Chicago and planning to force her to work in the
sex trade,  State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.

Read the full press release here: http://www.statesattorney.org/index2/press_SexTrafficking07.html

A Chicago man is facing a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty today to transporting a minor from Wisconsin to Illinois for prostitution. The defendant also  admitted that he engaged in forced sex-trafficking of the victim, as well as a second minor and two young adult women.

Read the full press release here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0111_01.html

The U.S.  Justice Department has announced that it will renew a federal grant that  supports the Cook County State’s Attorney’s efforts to combat human trafficking  and the sex trafficking of minor children, according to State’s
Attorney Anita  Alvarez.The $500,000  grant will provide funding over the next two years and will assist in enabling  the State’s Attorney’s Human Trafficking Initiative to continue to provide  training, programming and help link at-risk children and the victims of  trafficking to agencies providing essential services.

In the State’s Attorney’s ongoing crackdown on the crime of human  trafficking, a 35-year-old West Side man will appear in bond court today at the  Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 26th and California to face Class  X felony charges of
running a violent organized sex trafficking ring in which  he recruited and lured female victims with shelter and drugs and then forced  them to sell their sexual services on the streets or the internet as a  commodity.

 A suburban massage  parlor owner was convicted in federal court on Monday of multiple crimes against  four foreign women whom he mentally and physically abused while forcing them to  work for him between July 2008 and January 2010. U.S. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation  in coordination with the Cook County State's  Attorney's Office and the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force.

Read the full press release here: http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1201/120130chicago.htm

A long term undercover  investigation into the forced sex-trafficking of children and young women by  Chicago street gang members has resulted in charges against nine offenders in  the nation’s first-ever state-based wiretap
investigation targeting the crime  of human trafficking, Cook County and Chicago law enforcement officials  announced.
 
Read the full press release here: http://www.statesattorney.org/index2/press_littlegirllost01.html