3 guilty, 6 acquitted in Minnesota-to-Tennessee Somali girl sex ring

[Poll_Blind]

[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]3 guilty, 6 acquitted in Minn.-to-Tenn. Somali girl sex ring[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]A federal jury has convicted three men but acquitted five others and one woman of involvement in the sex trafficking of Somali girls in Minnesota and Tennessee.

The nine are among 30 people indicted for allegedly trafficking or conspiring to traffic juveniles in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Nashville, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio. The other 21, including two women, may face trial in the future.

--snip--

Prosecutors accused the nine of belonging to gangs mostly run by Somali refugees. Six are of Somali descent. Kayachith is U.S. born and of Laotian descent.

A Somali identified only as Jane Doe No. 2 testified that gang members forced her into prostitution when she was 12 years old. Fahra's lawyer claimed that Jane Doe No. 2 was a runaway who was an adult, and was fed information from a St. Paul, Minn., police investigator.

More at the link. Fucked up stuff. I keep forgetting just how big this country is and how many dark corners it has.

PB

[LadyHawkAZ]

1. Glad to see the convictions being pursued.

K&R

[riderinthestorm]

2. Oh but prostitution is just an empowering jobs avenue for women!

There's nothing disreputable about it... just legalize it and there won't be any exploitation of women/girls or sex trafficking, evah!

[jberryhill]

3. Or...

Is the opposing position to that "Make it illegal and there won't be abusive situations?"

Because it is illegal, yet this sort of thing does happen.

I don't think the legality or illegality of prostitution among consenting adults has much of an impact either way on things like trafficking in minors.

[TheMadMonk]

4. And if you keep it illegal, ALL the fucking control belongs to organised crime.

Tell me mate, just how fucking flamboyantly do YOU dress?

[Fumesucker]

5. Look at what happened with the Columbian prostitute and the SS..

If prostitution was illegal in Colombia the woman would never have gone to the police and that presidential security hole would still be wide open.

It was precisely because prostitution is illegal so many places that the SS man thought he could get away with what he did, he may have intellectually known it was legal but never connected that with the woman going to the police with her story, too big a mental adjustment and he couldn't make it. Prostitutes have rights, who woulda' thunk it? Certainly not an American cop.