Human Trafficking

Anne Arundel County police have charged a 19-year-old California woman with prostitution, operating a prostitution ring and human trafficking. Shkoyia Michelle Lomack of Sacramento was arrested Tuesday evening and remains in custody with a June 19 trial date. Officers received an anonymous tip that a woman was using hotels in the Linthicum area to house prostitutes and profit from their activities. Investigators say Lomack had used an Internet advertisement as a front for the prostitution ring that involved other women from California.

Anne Arundel County police have charged a 19-year-old California woman with prostitution, operating a prostitution ring and human trafficking. Shkoyia Michelle Lomack of Sacramento was arrested Tuesday evening and remains in custody with a June 19 trial date. Officers received an anonymous tip that a woman was using hotels in the Linthicum area to house prostitutes and profit from their activities. Investigators say Lomack had used an Internet advertisement as a front for the prostitution ring that involved other women from California.

Let me get this straight. Over 140 years ago the 13th Amendment to the Constitution legally abolished the slavery of my ancestors and my people. And today, according to your editorial ("Human trafficking: A modern-day form of slavery," June 6), some people (mainly young girls) in America are still being sold into slavery, albeit sexual slavery rather than servitude on a plantation. Yet the Maryland legislature dared to kill a measure that would have enabled victims of this loathsome commerce to sue the perpetrators for damages?

In regard to recent reporting on the Baltimore-Texas sex-trafficking case, thank you for covering this story and special thanks to the FBI and Baltimore Police for their success ("On the streets of Baltimore, a new hustle," Nov. 6). I would just like to point out that the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) has a hotline (1 - 888-3737-888) where incidents of suspected human trafficking can be reported. The best way citizens can help is to be alert to, and report, suspicious activity in which women, minors under the age of 18, or men are forced to provide labor, services, or commercial sex against their will.

Human trafficking happens because prostitution is illegal ("House of ill-repute," July 29 ). Prostitution is illegal only because the majority of people don't like it. Making something a crime forces it underground which is what enables abuse to take place. What happens between two consenting adults should not be the business of anyone if no one is harmed. Wendel Dean Renner

In regard to recent reporting on the Baltimore-Texas sex-trafficking case, thank you for covering this story and special thanks to the FBI and Baltimore Police for their success ("On the streets of Baltimore, a new hustle," Nov. 6). I would just like to point out that the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) has a hotline (1 - 888-3737-888) where incidents of suspected human trafficking can be reported. The best way citizens can help is to be alert to, and report, suspicious activity in which women, minors under the age of 18, or men are forced to provide labor, services, or commercial sex against their will.

Thanks for your piece on human trafficking in Maryland and your call on the General Assembly to do more to fight it ("Modern-day slavery," June 6). Yet punitive measures alone are not enough. We must also do more in the areas of awareness, prevention and victim care. We host the Maryland Rescue & Restore Coalition, a state-wide initiative against human trafficking. Every week we go into schools, churches and businesses to educate people about human trafficking, and we are amazed at what our children, in particular, don't know about this crime and how to protect themselves from it. It's a mistake to assume young people know how to recognize the danger posed by traffickers and take appropriate action, especially online.

The girl is 13, maybe 14, an unhappy adolescent with problems at home and a need to get away. Her mother spends most days getting high and is thinking about trading her child's body for drugs. The live-in boyfriend hits on her whenever mom nods out. Last year she dropped out of school. So she packs a bag and heads for the bus station, because it's the cheapest ticket out of town. As she sits on a bench surrounded by her belongings, a guy appears and starts chatting her up. He seems sympathetic, a good listener.

I was very pleased to see your front-page story on human trafficking in the United States ("Women from Maryland escape alleged prostitution ring," Nov. 5). When most people think of human trafficking, they imagine something that is happening in Third World countries, not on Baltimore Street. Thank you for doing your part to raise awareness about this very important, very relevant and very local issue. I hope that you will continue your coverage on this important topic. For example, what is the status of the Phylicia Barnes murder case, and is anyone investigating whether she was a victim of human trafficking?

Thank you for the informative but distressing, editorial "Modern day slavery" (June 6). This is the kind of information we would rather not know about — young girls being lured into prostitution — right here in Maryland! Sadly, human trafficking is a major international problem that is more prevalent than most of us realize. We hear about the prostitution of little girls in southeast Asia and other parts of the world. We shake our heads and toss aside the reports. But, the fact that "since last fall the Crimes Against Children Squad in Baltimore's FBI office has rescued 16 juveniles who were forced into prostitution" and that's "likely only a fraction of the victims" is both good news and bad news.

I was very pleased to see your front-page story on human trafficking in the United States ("Women from Maryland escape alleged prostitution ring," Nov. 5). When most people think of human trafficking, they imagine something that is happening in Third World countries, not on Baltimore Street. Thank you for doing your part to raise awareness about this very important, very relevant and very local issue. I hope that you will continue your coverage on this important topic. For example, what is the status of the Phylicia Barnes murder case, and is anyone investigating whether she was a victim of human trafficking?

The woman, barely in her 20s and estranged from her family, worked two jobs as she tried to launch a singing career. When she started chatting online with the head of "424 Records," she thought she had finally gotten her break. The purported record label had music videos on Facebook and YouTube. The promoters appeared to have the cliched trappings of hip-hop — the cars, the gold chains, the girls, the lingo, the cash. But the group's motto breathed tranquillity: "One Team, One Family.

A long-neglected mansion on the city's west side has been restored to its 19th-century grandeur so that it can provide a home and hope for homeless women. Dozens of volunteers have adopted rooms in the 8,000-square-foot Victorian, built in 1893 by the owner of a Baltimore tugboat company. They swept away years of abandonment, sanded floors, painted walls, restored stained-glass windows, repaired fireplaces and polished the fixtures. They have rebuilt the kitchen, added new bathrooms and donated linens, handmade quilts and every stick of furniture — save for the few pieces that came with the house.

A New Jersey man was arrested Thursday in Glen Burnie on charges of human trafficking and prostitution, police said. Uzodimma Nnamdi Oguh, 32, transported women along the East Coast to work as prostitutes, Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday. Police said they searched a Baltimore hotel where they said Oguh was running the business locally. Oguh has been charged with six counts of human trafficking, three counts of prostitution, one count of motor vehicle theft and other related criminal charges, police said.

"Melissa," one of the girls we've encountered in street outreach in Baltimore, is originally from Baltimore County. As a child, she loved fairies and wanted to be a dancer. After her parents' divorce, she experimented with drugs, which opened her up to a world of darkness she could not have imagined. Vulnerable and looking for her own identity, she was soon approached by a "boyfriend" who promised to care for her, but he was actually a trafficker who fueled her habit and sold her for sex up and down the I-95 corridor, profiting from the abuse of her body by those who would pay the price.

Human trafficking happens because prostitution is illegal ("House of ill-repute," July 29 ). Prostitution is illegal only because the majority of people don't like it. Making something a crime forces it underground which is what enables abuse to take place. What happens between two consenting adults should not be the business of anyone if no one is harmed. Wendel Dean Renner

A New Jersey man was arrested Thursday in Glen Burnie on charges of human trafficking and prostitution, police said. Uzodimma Nnamdi Oguh, 32, transported women along the East Coast to work as prostitutes, Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday. Police said they searched a Baltimore hotel where they said Oguh was running the business locally. Oguh has been charged with six counts of human trafficking, three counts of prostitution, one count of motor vehicle theft and other related criminal charges, police said.

There was nothing unusual about the faded yellow house on Belair Road. Its inhabitants mostly kept to themselves and were rarely seen outdoors. Only after federal and state investigators raided the site in May did neighbors learn that the building, which billed itself as an Asian massage parlor, actually served as a front for what authorities say was a sex-trafficking ring that forced women to have sex with as many as 15 to 20 men a day. ...

Thanks for your piece on human trafficking in Maryland and your call on the General Assembly to do more to fight it ("Modern-day slavery," June 6). Yet punitive measures alone are not enough. We must also do more in the areas of awareness, prevention and victim care. We host the Maryland Rescue & Restore Coalition, a state-wide initiative against human trafficking. Every week we go into schools, churches and businesses to educate people about human trafficking, and we are amazed at what our children, in particular, don't know about this crime and how to protect themselves from it. It's a mistake to assume young people know how to recognize the danger posed by traffickers and take appropriate action, especially online.