Category: sex trafficking

PREMIERING NOW: Trafficking Survivor Eliza Bleu: How My Abuser Preyed on My Vulnerabilities

This episode will premiere on Thursday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m. ET.   “Grooming, in my case, looked like an abuser finding out my vulnerabilities. He knew I wanted to be famous. He knew I wanted to get out of the farm life that I was growing up in.” At the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas,…


Trafficking Survivor Eliza Bleu: How My Abuser Preyed on My Vulnerabilities

“Grooming, in my case, looked like an abuser finding out my vulnerabilities. He knew I wanted to be famous. He knew I wanted to get out of the farm life that I was growing up in.” At the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas, I sat down with Eliza Bleu, a child sex trafficking survivor. Now…


Two Perspectives: Sex Trafficking and Sex Work

At FreedomFest in Las Vegas, I spoke with a woman who had been sexually trafficked, Eliza Bleu, and an actual sex worker, Kaytlin Bailey. I wanted to put these interviews side by side so that viewers can see differing perspectives on the sex industry and how lives can be affected by it, whether it be…


Redefining ‘Pro-Choice’: Pregnancy Help Centers in Southern California

In the heat of major legislative changes brought by the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court, pregnancy help centers in Southern California say they continue to support women with unexpected or unwanted pregnancies—by walking them through all available options and providing assistance during this challenging time in their lives. “Pregnancy resource…


R. Kelly Removed From Suicide Watch at Brooklyn Jail

Former R&B star and convicted sex trafficker “R. Kelly” has been removed from suicide watch at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), rendering a lawsuit his attorney filed moot. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Speight confirmed in a letter to a federal court that the convicted sex trafficker, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had been reassessed,…


R. Kelly Sues Prison for Putting Him on Suicide Watch

Convicted sex trafficker and former R&B star Robert Sylvester “R.” Kelly has sued the Brooklyn prison housing him claiming they’ve unlawfully placed him on suicide watch as a form of punishment. The complaint, filed by Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean, comes days after Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted of federal…


R. Kelly Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison in Sex Case

NEW YORK—R. Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison, following the multiplatinum R&B singer’s conviction for exploiting his stardom and wealth over decades to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex. The sentence was imposed nine months after Kelly, 55, was convicted of racketeering and sex crimes, in a…


Ghislaine Maxwell’s Attorneys Plead for Leniency in Sentencing

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the one time girlfriend of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, have asked a U.S. district court in New York for a sentence that is “well lower” than the 20 years recommended by the Probation Department. Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 for sex trafficking minors to the late Epstein, a wealthy financier with…


16 Missing Children Recovered in Operation, Sex Trafficking Allegations Uncovered

A three-month operation has seen 16 missing and endangered children rescued or recovered, and five individuals arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in the New Orleans, Louisiana metro area. The agency’s operation “Fresh Start” was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Louisiana New Orleans Task Force’s Missing Child Unit (MCU) from Jan….


US-Peru Human Trafficking Operation Sees 3 Arrests, 4 Victims Rescued

Three individuals were arrested and four sex trafficking victims were rescued in a human trafficking operation conducted by the United States and Peru in the Peruvian town of La Pampa, Madre de Dios. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Peruvian National Police (PNP) Human Trafficking Investigations Division on Feb….