Have you ever wondered WHY human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the U.S and California is usually the number one state for cases?

This week we look at several local cases and examine WHY and HOW this could be happening.  We will look at street commercial sex and the recent case in Pomona, California involving seven females mostly 14 to 17 years old. One victim was six months pregnant.  We explore massage parlor prostitution taking place in our community and a local alleged violent pimp that was exploiting a young girl. (Law enforcement is seeking more information on the Christian Meeks case.) 

We will also look at the potential impact of the massive wave of unaccompanied minors crossing our border who may be in "debt bondage" to a coyote or Cartel. Recent statistics from Customs and Border Protection indicate that over 170,000 individuals were processed in March 2021.  Assuming each one is paying on average a $4000 coyote fee, it would appear that Cartels are making billions while millions of vulnerable young people could potentially be exploited on our homeland.

Be sure to listen and learn more.

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Riverside County is exceptionally blessed to have great law enforcement and prosecution leadership in Sheriff Chad Bianco and DA Mike Hestrin.  They are committed to supporting the work of the Riverside County Anti Human Trafficking Task Force (RCAHT). While other counties are cutting back, Riverside County has doubled the size of the task force.  These very brave men and women that take on some of the toughest cases of both sex and labor trafficking.   

This podcast examines some of the current and ongoing cases of human trafficking in the Inland Empire.  We are asking for the public to come forward if you have more information on these cases.     

Christian Meeks: Charged with human trafficking, pimping, and domestic abuse.    

Stephen Rawley: Contact with a minor with intent to commit kidnapping or sex offenses. Going to an arranged meeting with a minor to commit sex offenses. Unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor over age 3 yrs. younger than the perpetrator. Please note: an additional potential victim has just come forward.   

Yanying He: Desert Hot Springs is Charged with Maintaining a Brothel and Solicitation of Prostitution.   

PLEASE NOTE:  THESE ARE INVESTIGATIONS IN PROCESS.  All Individuals are deemed innocent until they are awarded their right to due process and the legal procedures have been completed.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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It seems like nearly every day we hear about child exploitation.  Whether it is a teenager who goes online and hooks up with a stranger and sneaks off to meet them, or an unaccompanied minor who has been exploited to pay back a coyote.  

These cases are real and they are happening where we live.  This podcast gives you an inside look at why some kids are vulnerable and how the exploitation actually takes place.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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Few people are aware of how extensive commercial sex selling is in the Inland Empire and even more eye opening is how damaging it is when young people are seduced or lured into commercial sex.  Prostitution is illegal in the State of California according to California Penal Code 647b.  Any time a minor is engaged in commercial sex it is automatically a case of human trafficking.   

All too often young people meet someone online, in a chatroom, a dating site or hook up app and begin to develop a fantasy relationship without the individual realizing they are being groomed.  They meet and the relationship changes to one of manipulation, abuse, and violence. The victim is filmed and the photo is placed in online sex ads where total strangers arrange to have sex with them.  Over and Over, often six, eight, ten customers a day. The sex buyer tells themselves that these sex providers are there willingly.     

Very few sex buyers educate themselves about how sex trafficking works and even worse, they never ask questions.  They simply tell themselves it is OK without acknowledging they are participating in a crime. 

It is called Human Trafficking.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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WHEN A MINOR IS EXPLOITED ON LINE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

The app company? 

The Parent? 

The Minor? 

The Government?  

The world of social media is a complex enigma.  App companies all over the world are being sued and challenged as they are held responsible for the content of their members posting underage and illicit content. But with 1.5 billion users, is it realistic that app companies are truly aware of every illicit photo on their site? Certainly, we all expect some level of protection or cooperation if an app company is advised that a minor is being exploited and remove the content, but it seems it is not always so.    

Parents click the "I agree" button on apps and promise to be responsible for their child's online decision processes and that their child is at least at the minimum age required by the app company.  

Then they hand a prepubescent child a phone based on the belief that everyone is doing it and their child is a little more mature than most others. They vow to check from time to time but most parents are not as tech savvy as their kids.   

Kids promise to follow the rules and not send naked photos and reveal their online interactions when parents ask. Every kid I ever met believes that exploitation will not happen to them and if they are being "catfished" they will know it.  Most kids are unable to visualize where a naked photo goes when they hit "send".   

Almost every day at Million Kids we encounter a smart, informed teenager and family that is dealing with sextortion or social media exploitation. 

SO WHEN A CHILD IS EXPLOITED ONLINE - WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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We are all horrified when we see the photos of young children from foreign countries kept in miserable conditions at U.S. government detention centers.  We are told about the thousands more headed towards our southern borders.  Million Kids has a long history of combating all kinds of labor and sex trafficking so naturally, many people have asked for our thoughts on this situation.  Truly it is heartbreaking and there are no easy solutions.    

The United States as a sovereign nation has established orderly immigration processes to ensure that poor people from all over the world can apply to enter our country and in many cases stay and complete the requirements to become a citizen.  Over the past ten years many government leaders have chosen to instruct citizens to enforce most of our Federal laws and ignore others.  The chaos we are facing is because our leaders have chosen to no longer enforce the rule of law.      

When a nation no longer enforces their federal laws it opens the doors for gangs, cartels and organized crime to decide who can enter a country, what it will cost them, and often the result is that fine good-hearted individuals from very poor countries are exploited in their homelands, then again as they pass through unfriendly countries and even worse, once they arrive on U.S. soil.  We are not seeing bus loads of coyotes going home after they have escorted their prey to our country.     

The question I have is this... Who is funding billions of dollars to agencies all over the U.S. to make sure these individuals are not trafficked, exploited, raped, blackmailed and extorted once they come into our communities and enter our schools?  Human trafficking in the U.S is about to reach a whole new level.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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Join us to take a look at some local cases of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse materials.  One of the latest cases is the Paredes Family Sex Trafficking Ring that allegedly recruited girls from Mexico and exploited them through prostitution in Southern California. This was a three generation family business ran by the matriarch in Mexico but the exploitation took place in Ventura and local communities.  A massive amount of money generated by the illicit sexual services was laundered through a Colton, California based clothing store.     

We will also  explore the impact on the actions taken by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office to eliminate enhanced sentencing both for convicted felons so they can obtain early prison release and also eliminating any future enhanced sentencing for current and future prosecutions.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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How do Child Sex Abuse Materials (CSAM), also known as child porn, rings operate and most important how do law enforcement identify  investigate, apprehend and prosecute predators. 

We look at how a pedophile in one area might be connected to a large scale CSAM ring operating in the Dark Net. The administrator of the site may be in Australia, but the site itself may be hosted out of Bulgaria and the violation of victims may be taking place in Thailand, all while being watched in the U.S.  

We highlight the work of Fontana Police Department, the Fresno Police Department and look at the impact Covid has had on accelerating the number of cases of child sexual violation that are being reported throughout the U.S.

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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This is a hard hitting show with information every parent needs to hear. Few parents or teens understand where a naked photo goes when you hit “Send”.

The Inland Empire is fortunate to have one of the nation’s premier task forces focused on sexual crimes against children. Chief Green and the Fontana PD's ICAC Task Force are exceptional in their expertise and dedication to keeping our kids safe from predators. For this podcast, Opal Singleton, Host of Exploited: Crimes and Technology (AM 590) was privileged to spend time with the Fontana ICAC Task Force and have them share some of the key points that parents and grandparents need to know about how to keep their kids safe online.  

Fontana PD’s ICAC investigates, apprehends and assists in prosecutions of some of the world's most depraved criminals who violate children both locally and around the globe. The Task Force is led by Sgt Heaviside and Corporal Guith who are trained experts in advanced technology, pedophile behaviors and criminal investigations.  This team collaborates with other local law enforcement agencies as well as global agencies including FBI, Interpol and Homeland Security to identify pedophiles who may be violating children locally and sharing the photos around the world with other pedophiles.

This show will educate you about how pedophiles meet online, exchange coded messages to join underground, dark web pedophile sites where they buy, sell and trade millions of photos of sexual violation of underage children.  

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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The headline reads: Thai child model agency shut down and modeling agents arrested with more than 500,000 images of child sexual abuse    

This is a fascinating story of three separate cases coming together.  You may wonder what a Thai modeling agency in Bangkok, and the arrest of serial sex offenders in Australia and Bulgaria have to do with us in the U.S.  The answer is everything.  They are connected. 

Operation Blackwrist and Operation Casting Call were coordinated by 60 different law enforcement offices around the globe. So far more than 50,000 pedophiles have been identified as participants in a dark web pedophilia ring that horrendously violated children, filmed, and exchanged the images with other pedophiles around the world. Investigators are combing through over a half a million images of children being abused in order to locate and rescue them.    

Over time you will begin to see the arrest of hundreds of pedophiles in the U.S as law enforcement officers work with global authorities to identify and arrest these perpetrators.   

FBI Special Agent Daniel Alfin was involved in the groundbreaking PlayPen Case that made this all possible.  He was gunned down and killed in Florida while serving a warrant for another child pornography case.    

Be sure to go to insideralerts.org to sign up for the latest Million Kids Insider Alert for case analysis, latest technologies and breaking news in our efforts to keep kids safe from predators.

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