Sex Trafficking | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com ...conecting the community Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:54:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.10 http://www.insideojodu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/favicon.ico Sex Trafficking | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com 32 32 Texas sex trafficking victim, 15, takes her own life https://www.insideojodu.com/texas-sex-trafficking-victim-15-takes-her-own-life/ https://www.insideojodu.com/texas-sex-trafficking-victim-15-takes-her-own-life/#respond Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:54:36 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8168 A family in Texas is seeking justice after a 15-year-old girl rescued from sex…

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A family in Texas is seeking justice after a 15-year-old girl rescued from sex traffickers committed suicide over the weekend.

Letty Serrano, who was abducted in 2017, locked herself in a bathroom at the family’s Houston home and killed herself Saturday, FOX26 Houston reported. Her father, Mariano Serrano, told the station how he had desperately tried to reach her before it was too late.

“She died in my arms,” Serrano said.

Letty’s family described her as a good girl before her abduction near Marshall Middle School, in North Houston, at age 13.

“She was a good student, good grades, quiet, kind of a loner, and her brother had just passed. She was a perfect target for them,” Cynthia Rivera, Letty’s godmother, told FOX26.

Following her rescue, Letty appeared “broken and addicted,” Rivera wrote on Facebook, calling the road to recovery “one of the hardest things” for the child to overcome.

Letty’s father told the station he believed his daughter couldn’t get over being away from the man who took her. She ran away from home twice to be with the man, who had been arrested and then released days later, the family said.

“It’s a very familiar story, unfortunately,” Micah Gamboa, executive director of Elijah Rising, a nonprofit organization in Houston dedicated to ending sex trafficking through prayer, awareness and intervention, told KTRK-TV.

Gamboa claimed there are thousands of trafficking victims in Houston alone, with over 300,000 in Texas.

Rivera has urged the community to come together and ask the city council to tear down abandoned “drug houses” where she said Letty was found.

Following her death, Houston Police Department Vice Division Commander Jim Dale has called for the case to be reopened.

“She was a victim and somehow her cries fell through the cracks and I think that’s why it’s so imperative that we get the schools involved,” Dale told FOX26.

A cause of death has not been released.

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Anti-sex trafficking leader praises ICE, Trump https://www.insideojodu.com/anti-sex-trafficking-leader-praises-ice-trump/ https://www.insideojodu.com/anti-sex-trafficking-leader-praises-ice-trump/#respond Sun, 11 Aug 2019 18:04:55 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=6571 Director and activist Jaco Booyens touted United States President Donald Trump’s historic work in…

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Director and activist Jaco Booyens touted United States President Donald Trump’s historic work in fighting sex trafficking and defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “incredible people” who helped keep children safe.

Fox News host Mark Levin asked Booyens whether Donald Trump did more to address the issue than other presidents, including former President Barack Obama. “No question,” Booyens responded on “Life, Liberty, and Levin,” airing Sunday.

Booyens said that despite all the criticism surrounding ICE, the agency has become a vital partner in combatting sex trafficking.

“These are incredible men and women that help us … incredible people who actually go and keep America’s children safe. This president has empowered them to do so,” he told Levin.

His movie “8 Days” tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who’s forced into sex trafficking after attending a party with her friends. Booyens said the film is available on Netflix and other places.

Booyens claimed that he tried taking his story to CNN and MSNBC but faced “closed doors.” “I say that not to point finger or blame, that’s just a fact. This crime doesn’t ask ‘are you conservative or liberal?'”

Levin asked Booyens whether CNN and MSNBC were too focused on their own “ideological agenda” to cover the issue. “You want to believe they’re too busy to pay attention and yes they are because they’re busy with silly stuff — accusing the president,” Booyens responded.

He also argued that sex trafficking was rooted in sex addiction fueled by mass media. “It is sex addiction that in its core is fueled … it starts with a pornographic culture, soft porn, it’s the objectification of women — which we as a country have done a great job at completely objectifying women.” Specifically, Booyens said, Hollywood was to blame along with the Internet.

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