Brian Watson Jr., also known has “B” or “Lil B,” of Blythewood, was arrested Thursday and had his first appearance in federal court.

The federal indictment alleges 48-year-old Watson had multiple human trafficking victims between 2016 and 2019.

It lists seven victims and says he tried to traffic two other victims — including a minor.

Watson “recruited, enticed, harbored, transported” and benefited from his victims, according to the indictment, which says he forced them to “engage in a commercial sex act.”

The minor listed among his victims was “advertised” by Watson back in 2016, the indictment says. However, that charge is one of attempted human trafficking, implying the minor was thankfully never actually forced to engage in a sex act.

Seven victims did suffer from sex trafficking, according to the indictment. It says three of them were trafficked for about two years by Watson. Others were victims for one month, several months or a year, the indictment alleges.

The indictment also claims Watson distributed heroin and fentanyl and allowed those drugs, as well as cocaine, crack and meth, to be stored and sold through his Blythewood house on Round Top Church Road.

Blythewood residents and neighbors are looking at this arrest as a wake-up call.

“It’s just sad that we can live in a community where this can happen,” one neighbor said. “It’s really scary. I’m just glad that it came to an end today.”

Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan said several of the victims were from Kershaw County. He offered some advice for parents.

“As a reminder to parents, kidnapping is not always involved in human trafficking cases,” he explained. “Victims can be coerced into human trafficking by their dependency of basic needs or addiction to drugs. Holding your child close to you while in a crowded place is not always as important as knowing what your child does when they are away from you.”

Boan also said the victims are safe at this time.

“I cant guarantee the condition they were in before or immediately up to the point the house was entered — but from that moment on they were safe,” he said.

Watson faces 12 federal charges of human trafficking, attempted human trafficking and drug-related violations.

WIS obtained the indictment, which was unsealed during Thursday’s court hearing. 

Businesses involved include Denver Apple Spa, Tulip Spa, 21 Spa, Mojo Massage, Ocean Foot Massage and seven others. The seven indicted individuals include Chen Liang Kuo, Yi Ting Mo, Manqui Xu, Le Zhang, Ying Guo, Xiong Xie and Xuelin Chen. Their ages range from 33 to 57.

Grand Jury indicts masseurs suspected of trafficking women from China at Front Range businesses – Sentinel Colorado

US GOVERNMENT CALLS OUT NATIONS ON DISMAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RECORDS IN NEW REPORT

McCann’s office received a tip in 2018 that some of the businesses may have previously operated in Aurora. Trevor Vaughn, tax and licensing manager in that city, told local news outlet Sentinel Colorado that he contacted the FBI in 2018 after several women at Ocean Foot Massage refused to present identifications to authorities during an audit.

Authorities found clothes and food throughout the property, which led them to believe people were living at the business.

The massage parlor shut down the following day, but Vaughn said he discovered that Ocean Foot’s owner, Chen Kuo, had another business in Denver that was still operating. Aurora has closed 20 businesses in the city over the past two years, Vaughn told the Sentinel.

The operation has been linked to Denver County, Douglas County, Arapahoe County, Routt County and Jefferson County, as well as locations outside the state in Oklahoma, California and Louisiana, the DA’s office reported.

During the investigation, authorities tracked “criminal proceeds through a network of bank accounts to support the money-laundering charges in the indictment,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

He added that illegal marijuana “grow houses diverted revenue from the state.”

It might come as a surprise to some, but in the midst of Alaska’s beautiful outdoor surroundings, we have a human trafficking problem. Human trafficking takes two forms — labor trafficking and sex trafficking. As Alaska’s attorney general, one of my priorities is to combat this scourge and eliminate it from our communities.

Labor trafficking involves using force, fraud or coercion to induce another individual to work or provide service. Victims can be found in both legitimate and illegitimate labor industries, including sweatshops, massage parlors, agriculture, restaurants, hotels, and domestic service. Sex trafficking involves inducing or causing an adult to engage in a commercial sex act by force, fraud or coercion; or inducing or causing a minor to engage in a commercial sex act (no force required). Commercial sex acts include prostitution, pornography, or any sexual performance done in exchange for value, such as money, drugs, shelter, food or clothes.

A recent tour that I took of Anchorage with a group called Priceless Alaska was genuinely eye opening. Priceless is a non-profit organization dedicated to working with law enforcement to help women escape from trafficking by providing them the assistance and resources they need for their rescue. The amount of trafficking activity taking place in Alaska and Anchorage alone is staggering.

Trafficking is different from smuggling. Trafficking is the illegal exploitation of a person – trafficking crimes do not require any movement across state lines. Victims can be recruited and trafficked in their own villages and hometowns—and sadly, even in their own homes. Traffickers use violence, manipulation or false promises of well-paying jobs or romantic relationships to lure victims.

Traffickers prey on our most vulnerable citizens. Traffickers disproportionately target at-risk populations including individuals who have experienced or been exposed to other forms of violence — child abuse and maltreatment, interpersonal violence and sexual assault, community and gang violence — and individuals disconnected from stable support networks — runaway and homeless youth, and unaccompanied minors. Reports indicate that a large number of child sex trafficking survivors in the United States were at one time in the foster care system.

Children are particularly vulnerable. In 2018, over half of the criminal human trafficking cases active in the U.S. were cases involving children. Advocates report a growing trend of traffickers using online social media platforms to recruit and advertise targets of human trafficking. Often, traffickers use social media, the internet, and gaming platforms to make initial contact with victims.

In fact Alaska is a very hot spot for missing people. According to NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), more than 600,000 persons go missing in the United States every year. Anywhere between 89 percent to 92 percent of those missing people are recovered every year, either alive or deceased. But how many of those disappear in the wild is unclear. Alaska has the highest percentage of people who stay missing. Investigators have compiled a list of about 1,100 people who remain lost. This in a state whose population — 650,000 — is less than that of San Francisco. “We live in a place,” Dolly Hills says, “where people disappear.”

 Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder for the District of Alaska announced that more than $65 million in Department of Justice grants is available to help communities combat human trafficking and serve adults and children who are victimized in trafficking operations.

“Our nation is facing difficult challenges, none more pressing than the scourge of human trafficking. Human traffickers pose a dire threat to public safety and countering this threat remains one of the Administration’s top domestic priorities,” said Katharine T. Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. “The Department of Justice is front and center in the fight against this insidious crime. OJP is making historic amounts of grant funding available to ensure that our communities have access to innovative and diverse solutions.”

Hopefully this will help slow down human trafficking and the people that just go missing. The hot-line number for human trafficking is 1-888-373-7888. 

Howard Rubin, widely known as George Soros’ right hand man, was accused of leading a “human trafficking enterprise” in which he allegedly raped, brutally assaulted and enslaved women in a $8 million Manhattan sex dungeon, according to court documents.

A former Wall Street trader, Howard Rubin, 62, was accused by three women, including two high profile Playboy bunnies, of raping and beating them in a Midtown penthouse which he allegedly rigged with ropes, chains, and other BDSM equipment.

Soros’ right hand man is said to have lured dozens of women from all over the US by offering between $2000 and $5000 for ‘supposed companionship and photoshoots‘ before assaulting them so brutally that they needed cosmetic and dental reconstructive surgery, according to the lawsuit.

One of the rape accusers of former Soros Fund portfolio manager Howard Rubin later backed off of her allegations amid a new settlement agreement between the pair, according to court papers and a sworn statement.

Daily Mail reports: In one session the married father allegedly gagged a woman and shocked her with a cattleprod to the groin before raping her, according to the lawsuit.

In another he beat a woman’s breasts ‘so badly that her right implant flipped,‘ for which he paid her $20,000 to repair, the papers filed by civil lawyer John Balestriere said.

The suit alleges that Rubin told victims he would tie them up and rape them, telling one: ‘I’m going to rape you like I rape my daughter‘.

In details that mirror Jeffrey Epstein, the banker allegedly collaborated with female fixers and a lawyer.

The suit accuses them of trying to ‘cover up Rubin’s sexual misconduct and criminal abuse of women and to serve as a cover for his wide-ranging human trafficking scheme.’

The suit calls Rubin’s alleged criminal network ‘The Enterprise’ and says it has ‘been in existence for many years‘.

Rubin declined to comment on the allegations when phoned by the New York Post.

Rubin began his career in mortgaged-backed securities at Salomon Brothers in 1982.

He joined the Mortgage Department at Bear Stearns, becoming a Senior Managing Director and head of the CMO Trading Desk before retiring in 1999 as one of the most-respected men on Wall Street.

In the 1980s, he made historic losses at Merrill Lynch through a series of unauthorized trades which cost the company $250million.

In 2008 he came out of retirement to manage a Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund for fancier George Soros, run by Soros Fund Management, LLC. He quit the firm in 2015.

Rubin has been married to philanthropist and fellow Harvard Business School graduate Mary Henry since 1985.

The couple raised their three children in New York on the Upper East Side and also have a house in the Hamptons.

In a statement, the lawyer who filed the suit said: ‘After conducting a months-long investigation through their lawyers, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in federal court in Brooklyn alleging that Rubin and his co-conspirators (including a former prosecutor) worked together in the Enterprise which lied to women to lure them to travel across the United States to a secret penthouse Rubin controlled in Midtown Manhattan. 

‘In the Penthouse, Rubin would beat and rape the women. 

‘Plaintiffs charge that Rubin and the other individuals and entities in the enterprise – who also perpetrated acts of obstruction of justice – violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and are liable for a series of other claims including assault, battery, illegal imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.‘

Update: According to the New York Post, the rape accuser of former Soros Fund portfolio manager Howard Rubin has backed off of her allegations amid a new settlement agreement between the pair, according to court papers and a sworn statement.

The accuser “voluntarily discontinues all of her claims against defendant Howard Rubin” the pair’s lawyers said in Manhattan Supreme Court papers filed Monday.

And in a sworn statement from Dec. 4 the woman said that she “knowingly and voluntarily chose to engage in consensual sexual activity with Mr. Rubin, including Sadomasochistic activity.”

She also said in the statement that she voluntarily signed a confidentiality agreement with him Nov. 5, 2015.

The woman had claimed at the time that she had been plied with alcohol before she was made to sign the nondisclosure agreement.

Just how bad is human trafficking in Illinois. The numbers could not be in worse then any other city or state.

Human trafficking is one of the most under reported crimes, but according to UNICEF U.S.A., it is also the second largest crime industry in the world.

Among the human trafficking cases, according to the Human Trafficking Hotline, the vast majority of those cases are sex trafficking. The hotline also reports there have been 4,460 cases reported in the states for the first half of 2017. Among those cases, 3,698 of those affected were female, 607 were male and 53 were identified as gender minorities.

According to the hotline, Illinois ranks 10th for the number of reported cases in the states for the first half of 2017 with 100 cases, following Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Of the 100 cases, 83 of those affected were female. 

You may not be aware of just how prevalent the human trafficking trade is in Illinois. For 2019 alone, approximately 200 human trafficking cases have been identified in this state so far.

The sheer case volume ranks Illinois as the 11th state in the country for human trafficking. Still, only 1 percent of human trafficking victims are ever rescued. That means the problem is likely to be even more prevalent than even these staggering numbers indicate.

Human trafficking is also on the increase in Illinois and nationwide, so it’s likely that these numbers will go up. With figures like these, don’t expect Illinois law enforcement to take human trafficking lying down.

For 2019 alone, approximately 200 human trafficking cases have been identified in this state so far. The sheer case volume ranks Illinois as the 11th state in the country for human trafficking. Still, only 1 percent of human trafficking victims are ever rescued.

“The same 20,000 pimps are moving around to where the action is.” The State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report found the Department of Justice opened significantly fewer human trafficking investigations in 2018 compared to 2017, dropping from 783 to 657.

A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2012 estimated that men accounted for 25 percent of trafficking victims globally. Further, the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons estimated that 27 percent of all victims detected globally were children and that of those, one in three victims were boys.

Girls and boys are kidnapped from their homes around the world or are lured in with lies and forced into sex slavery. According to the FBI, approximately 293,000 children are forced into sex slavery in the United States. The average age a child enters the sex industry is 12-14 years old. The victims are expected by their pimp to have sex with between 10 – 30 tricks (people who pay for sex) per day.

“Modern [sex] slavery has reached historic levels,” said Liz Yore, an expert on rescuing sex-trafficked children and an international child advocate who formerly worked for Oprah Winfrey at Harpo Studios.

Yore spoke on Super Bowl Saturday at an educational conference called SpeakOut Illinois, which is hosted by 43 Illinois pro-life organizations. Yore attributed a main factor in sex trafficking’s thriving business to legalized abortion.

The sex trafficking industry makes approximately $87 million per day. The average pimp makes between $150,000 and $200,000 per year off of selling 3-4 victims. Yore says Chicago is ranked 10th as a hub for sex-trafficked children with approximately 27,854 registered sex offenders in Illinois. Chicago, a city plagued by a robust abortion industry as well as easily accessible public and interstate transportation has approximately 16,000 – 25,000 sex trafficked victims every year.

The Kastina State Police Command has arrested the suspected leader of a human trafficking syndicate, Abubakar Habibu, at a checkpoint in the state.

It was gathered that Habibu was arrested at a checkpoint in the Kongolom-Daura area of the state.

It was learnt that the suspect and his gang members had earlier been declared wanted in connection with a human trafficking case that the command was working on.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Gambo Isah, said in a statement on Sunday that members of the syndicate were specialists in conveying their victims on motorcycles through the Nigerian border to the Niger Republic for onward transfer to Libya and Europe

He stated, “On August 11, 2020, around 4.30pm, based on a reliable tip-off, the command succeeded in arresting one Abubakar Habibu of Koza Village, Maiadua LGA of Katsina State, a notorious kingpin of a human trafficking syndicate terrorising the state. He was arrested at a police checkpoint along the Kongolom-Daura Road, Katsina State, and he is wanted in connection with a case of human trafficking, which is under investigation by the command.

“The syndicate specialises in conveying their victims on motorcycles across the Nigerian border to the Niger Republic for onward trafficking to Libya and Europe. In the course of the investigation, the suspect confessed to the offence. Efforts are ongoing to arrest other members of the syndicate. Investigation is ongoing.”

The command said it also arrested members of a syndicate that specialised in receiving rustled cattle from bandits in the state.

It was gathered that the suspects, Abdullahi Saidu and Jafaru Aminu, who are from the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of the state, were found in possession of 12 stolen cows when arrested.

Isah said the suspects confessed to have received the cows from bandits in the Faskari Local Government Area of the state.

“On August 12, 2020, around 2 pm, based on credible intelligence, the operatives of the State Intelligence Bureau, Katsina Command, succeeded in arresting Abdullahi Saidu and Jafaru Aminu, both of the Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State in possession of 12 stolen cows; in the course of investigation the suspects confessed to having received the cows from bandits in the Faskari LGA of Katsina State with an intent to dispose them off. Investigation is still ongoing,” the PPRO added.

Human trafficking in Virginia could not be in worse then anywhere else. Here exact numbers are difficult to obtain since human trafficking is illegal in Virginia. … From December 2007 to June 2015, they received 2,803 calls on human trafficking in Virginia, which resulted in 628 cases. The most common type of trafficking was sex trafficking, domestic work and traveling sales crews.

The numbers behind how many children go missing a year in Virginia. There are 329 missing children in Virginia as of May 22 and the … at-risk thing and that’s the pipeline into sex trafficking,”  More then over 300 children have went missing in Virginia this year. Yes, you are reading this right 300 children.

In 2018 there were 33 active human trafficking cases in Virginia. … Virginia’s 33 active human trafficking cases in 2017 generated 401 federal charges involving 74 defendants. Of those 33 cases, 75 percent involved sex trafficking and the remaining 25 percent of cases involved labor trafficking. When we hear about cases of human trafficking, we don’t necessarily consider it a local issue, but human trafficking in Virginia may be a bigger issue than you thought. In 2018, Virginia was ranked sixth in the nation for active human trafficking cases, with almost 200 reported cases within the 2018 calendar year.

Statistics indicate that the vast majority of these victims were women and the highest percentage of cases were in the sex trafficking category. Virginia’s central location along the Eastern highway corridor serves as a reason for the prevalence of trafficking in the state, with Interstate 95 being one of the main points of concern. State government and law enforcement have paid special attention to this phenomenon in recent years, and many independent organizations throughout the state work closely with victims and officials in handling situations of human trafficking. Human trafficking is categorized as a modern form of slavery.

The International Labor Organization estimates there to be over 21 million human trafficking victims around the world and over 150 billion dollars generated in forced labor per year. Anyone can become a victim of human trafficking, but immigrants, LGBTQ+ youth, those in poverty, and victims of domestic violence are among the groups that are most commonly affected. Victims of human trafficking find themselves in a range of situations, and forms of forced labor include sex work, street begging, agricultural work, and even things like dangerous mining and quarrying in certain countries.

The human trafficking hot-line number is 1 (888) 373-7888

SMS: 233733 (Text “HELP” or “INFO”)Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a weekLanguages: English, Spanish and 200 more languagesWebsite: humantraffickinghotline.org

Human trafficking in Arkansas is just as bad as any other state. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, reports of trafficking can be found in every state including Arkansas. In fact, 121 calls from Arkansas came into the hotline last year resulting in 41 possible cases identified. … The hotline also reports 33 calls made were from victims or survivors. 2019 was a bad year for the hotline. 2020 with the coronavirus going on could possibly be worse.

From 2006 to 2018, there were 812 calls human trafficking calls in Arkansas, leading to 203 cases filed. This year alone, at least 145 calls, leading to 42 cases of human trafficking. Thus, the number of Arkansas human trafficking cases being reported in on the increase.

How many people go missing in Arkansas a year you ask? Arkansas has more than 500 unsolved missing persons cases, with those missing ranging from ages 2 to 99.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will. Human trafficking affects individuals across the world, including here in the United States and is commonly regarded as one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. Human trafficking affects every community in the United States across age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds.

Never confront a suspected trafficker or victim directly. You could be putting yours and the victim’s safety at serious risk. Contact local law enforcement

According to the Department of State, the top three states with the most human trafficking activity are California, New York and Texas. California Against Slavery reported that three of the 10 worst child sex trafficking areas in the United States are San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Sex trafficking has increased in our area due to instability caused by COVID-19, according to area non-profit Hub of HOPE.
“Despite COVID-19, trafficking continues,” said Jenny Sorey, founder and executive director of Hub of HOPE. “We would estimate that it is actually increasing, simply because of the nature of trafficking. We know that it has a direct relationship with poverty and addiction, and are we not seeing an increase of poverty or an increase of a need for financial stability?”
“Having those great needs and being in a situation where they are at high risk, their vulnerability is increased. A traffickers pleas, a traffickers grooming tactics are going to be hard to dismiss because the promises are very good, but they’re very empty,” Sorey said. “They’re promised love or attention, companionship — who doesn’t want companionship during COVID time, right? — and so many people really lend their ear to those, really, lies, empty promises of a trafficker, and find themselves then caught in sex trafficking.”

Just how bad is human trafficking in Tennessee. Its the second highest rising crime in Tennessee.” Among the most sobering statistics heard Monday in the workshop is that human trafficking touches just about every county in Tennessee and the average age of victims when they begin is 13-years-old. … Its called the Tennessee Human Trafficking

In Tennessee, 361 people are missing, according to the report. That’s 5.4 missing persons per 100,000 people. California has the most missing persons cases overall, with 2,133 people allegedly missing. Rhode Island reportedly has the least, with only 20 people missing.

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said they were called to trafficking cases in 73 of the state’s 95 counties in 2019. “Sadly, all too often in Northeast Tennessee, human trafficking involves a parents selling their child for sex in exchange for drugs or money,” 

Trafficking women and children in America is a major business. The kind of business that the main stream media will not touch. This week the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said they were called to trafficking cases in 73 of the state’s 95 counties in 2020.

The YouTube video posted above is just a simple of what is going on beside the Covid-19

The second suspect wanted in connection with a human trafficking and prostitution-related investigation in Pender County is now behind bars.

Demond Ca’Quan Conyers, 21, was taken into custody on Tuesday following a traffic stop near Leland. He’s charged with one count each of human trafficking, advancing prostitution, profiting from prostitution, and conspiracy to commit human trafficking. Conyers is also facing unrelated drug charges in Brunswick County following yesterday’s traffic stop.

Conyers is the second suspect identified by the Pender County Sheriff’s Office following a human trafficking investigation that began in June.

The other suspect, 19-year-old Dwayne Poole Jackson, was arrested by law enforcement after he was found hiding in the attic of a Wilmington home last month. He remains in jail under a $1 million bond.