late monday night, the story broke about an alleged sex slave ring in Long Island, NY. the owners and manager of two bars in suffolk county have been slammed with forced prostitution charges. and, it's a family affair.
apparently, bar owners Antonio Rivera (a registered sex offender who had previously engaged in sexual acts with a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old) and his sister Jasmin have been operating the Sonidos de Law Frontera and the La Hija del Mariachi bars, both of which have been managed by John Whaley. on August 10, 2009, the trio "was arrested on charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, and alien harboring in Long Island."
to read NBC News' release, visit this link. and you can watch Nancy Grace's CNN report here.
according to news reports, the three defendants have been luring young female immigrants from Central America with the promise of successful work as waitresses and hostesses. however, once in Long Island, the young women faced a very different reality: they were forced to have sex with customers. if they refused, they were instead subject to rape and sexual assault, and were threatened with deportation if the bars' owners and manager reported them to immigration authorities.
not only were these young women mercilessly taken advantage of but, according to some reports, some of them were actually not yet of majority age. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Joseph M. Demarest, Jr. is quoted as saying, “Forced labor is tantamount to enslavement. The form of forced labor charged here made young women, some of them minors, sex slaves. As inhuman as that was, if they resisted, they were allegedly subjected to even worse. We are committed to protecting the vulnerable, whatever their status.”
the trio is facing a whole host of criminal charges ranging from sex trafficking to forced labor, which carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment.
well-deserved, i think.
also, check out these link updates on other stories GCNova has been following:
- yesterday, i posted the newest developments in the case of the gang rape in phoenix, AZ. Kyra's CNN Newsroom blog has been updated to include yesterday's on-air interview with Liberian Deputy Ambassador of Missions, Edwin Sele. watch it here, and take care to notice how Sele tries to shrug off the insensitive, ridiculous comments of the young girl's family as a mere issue of mistranslation and language barriers.
- President Barack Obama, along with other international leaders and organizations, has stepped up to condemn the latest development in the case of Burmese pro-democracy activist and Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. for those of you who missed it, Daw Suu Kyi's verdict was finally delivered yesterday and she has, as expected, been unjustly convicted and sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest.
No comments:
Post a Comment