NEWS
April 17, 2012
Many of us who labor in journalism inevitably have contact with U.S. Secret Service agentsand encounter men and women as devoted to their task, as serious of purpose, and as professional as any of the finest in law enforcement. So it is nothing short of shocking to learn not only of last week's scandal in Colombia but also of hints that the problem may run deeper than one night of wild partying with prostitutes in Cartagena. President Barack Obama has said that he will be "angry" if the allegations prove true, but it appears the White House is slightly behind the curve.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann | March 29, 2012
Federal authorities said they have rescued a 15-year-old girl from being prostituted by a Washington man who had advertised her on the Backpage website and took her to College Park to meet a man. Melvin Longwood, age 31, was indicted on charges of transporting a minor for the purposes of prostitution. Authorities, working with the National center for Missing and Exploited Children, allege he used the girl between September and February. The investigation began with a report of a missing teenager from Virginia.
NEWS
By Steve Kilar and Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun | November 11, 2011
New federal charges have been filed against 10 people from Maryland who are being held in a sex-trafficking case that allegedly was centered in Baltimore and Western Texas, said prosecutors, who are calling the case a "forced prostitution" scheme. The superseding indictment made public Thursday alleges that five of the defendants "used their ties to the music industry to recruit young women, then force them to work as strippers and prostitutes," according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Texas.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun | November 5, 2011
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.
NEWS
By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun | October 27, 2011
The Abell Foundation has awarded the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office a grant worth nearly $128,000, which will be used to "double the capacity" of an anti-prostitution program, top prosecutor Gregg Bernstein announced Thursday. One of his deputy state's attorney's, Elizabeth Embry, is the daughter of foundation President Robert Embry, who could not be reached for comment. Roughly 1,200 prostitution arrests are logged in Baltimore each year, according to the State's Attorney's Office, which launched the "Specialized Prostitution Diversion" program in 2009 to help offenders break the recidivist cycle, by offering them drug, health and employment services.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun | October 14, 2011
Police and federal agents arrested 10 people in Baltimore this week on charges that they ran a prostitution ring and forced women to travel to Texas for sex, according to law enforcement authorities and an indictment. Few details of the case were publicly released. The suspects were arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and ordered detained. Prosecutors in El Paso, Texas, said they would be transferred to that state for prosecution. A statement from the U.S. attorney's office in the western district of Texas identifies the suspected ringleader as Alarcon Allen Wiggins, 43, who has addresses in the past few years that include Pulaski Highway in Baltimore and Hampstead in Carroll County.