Domestic Sex Trafficking of Minors - Women's Funding Network

— The two victims in this case were 15 and 17, and the men used “threats, intimidation and
beatings” to force them to have sex for money with clients who responded to advertisements
online
• January 17, 2011
— Reported on January 17, 2011, by Deborah Richardson for the Huffington Post
— In a courthouse in New York, former NFL star Lawrence Taylor pleaded guilty to sexual
misconduct and paying a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim for sex. In return, the ex-linebacker
received a misdemeanor charge that carries no jail time though he will be put on probation
and a sex offender list.
— Criminals that feed demand and harm our children should face harsh penalties equal to the
harsh and unimaginable abuse child sex trafficking victims suffer.
— The 16-year-old girl Taylor abused is one of up to 300,000 children trafficked for sex in
America every year.
— We need to send a clear message to prosecutors and judges that trafficking would not
continue to flourish if we held the buyers more accountable.
— Previously reported on January 13, 2011, by The Associated Press
— Previously reported on May 6, 2010, by the New York Times.: Lawrence Taylor was
arrested early in the morning for allegedly paying $300 for sex with a 16-year-old at a local
hotel and was charged with third-degree rape and soliciting prostitution. She was brought to
the hotel room by Rasheed Davis, a sex trafficker. He was also arrested and charged with
Sex Trafficking of a Minor, parole violations and other violations.
• June 2, 2010 – Brooklyn*
— Reported June 2, 2010, by William Sherman of the New York Daily News.
— Bloods gang members arrested for running four, separate prostitution rings involving
underage girls, including numerous 15-year-olds.
— Girls were beaten and deprived of food if they made less than $500 a day selling their bodies.
— The girls were listed on Craigslist, Backpage and other Internet sites
— Eight alleged traffickers face up to 25 years in prison each, if convicted.
• April 20, 2010 – New York City
— Reported April 20, 2010, by Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times.
— Indictment was unsealed April 20 accusing 14 members and associates of the Gambino
family of an assortment of crimes
— One of the crimes listed in the indictment was setting up a sex trafficking network on the
Internet in the New York area. All the girls were under 20 years old, and one was 15.
— Act described by Preet Bahara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as “a
new low for the Gambino family.”
North Carolina
• October 5, 2010 – Durham
- Reported October 6, 2010, by Jesse DeConto of The News & Observer
- A grand jury has indicted Ivan Cervantes Damian on charges he held a 15-year-old girl
captive for more than 18 months and forced her to have sex.
- Damian, 30, faces charges of first-degree statutory sex offense, human trafficking and forcing
a child into sexual servitude.
- Authorities accuse Damian of having sex with the teenage girl between December 2008 and
August 2009. They also accuse him of holding the victim in servitude from December 2008 to
July 2010.
• August 20, 2010 – Asheville
— Reported August 23, 2010 by The Citizen-Times.
— Michael Forrest Grant, 43, of Countryside Estates, Barnardsville, was arrested for attempting
to “facilitate a minor to participate in prostitution.
— Grant was released on $10,000 bond.
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