Here is your weekly roundup of human trafficking stories in the news.
A 34-year-old man in Virginia was arrested for child exploitation after inappropriately messaging who he thought was a 14-year-old girl on the app KIK. He was actually messaging an undercover FBI employee. U.S. Attorney Cullen said, “We will continue to work closely with our federal, state, and local partners to identify and arrest those who utilize social media to prey on minors.”
This week, it is expected that a new bill will be introduced to create funding to stop the spread of child exploitation material. The bill would also create new positions to focus on combating online child exploitation.
After receiving a tip, Colorado police were able to find and arrest a man for child sexual assault (under 15 years of age) and child exploitation. The child was identified and is now safe.
The CyberTipline has received over 4 million reports of child exploitation in April alone. This is double the amount of reports they received in March. According to Forbes, this spike could be due to more adults being home and able to report, more children playing online making them more vulnerable to predators, and traffickers changing their business models to fit COVID-19 restrictions.
O.U.R. was not involved in these stories unless specified.
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