3 Individuals have been detained following an investigation of Child Sex Trafficking

Three individuals have been detained following an investigation into a child sex trafficking ring in Morgan County, officials reported. The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Jeremy Scott Peek, 31, from Danville, Drayton Shawn Tolliver, 37, from Decatur, and Corey DeWayne Wynn Sr., 49, also from Decatur. All three face charges of electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, with bail set at $250,000 each. This arrest operation was executed last Friday by the Criminal Investigations Division of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Unit, Morgan County District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Army Cyber Special Agents, and the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office. The goal was to identify and apprehend individuals attempting to exploit children sexually. The investigation is part of a broader effort in collaboration with Covenant Rescue Group, and authorities have indicated that further charges could be forthcoming. Original Article: https://www.waaytv.com/jeremy-scott-peek-and-drayton-shawn-tolliver-and-corey-dewayne-wynn-sr/image_6f199942-0645-11ef-b28b-379b46d9ac63.html

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Senate Passes Grassley & Ossoff’s Bill To Combat Child Trafficking

04.22.2024 WASHINGTON – The Senate passed the Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024, a bill Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) introduced to foster coordination between the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS). The bipartisan legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for further consideration. “The federal government can and must do more to prevent children from falling prey to the evils of human trafficking. The Senate advanced that objective by passing our bipartisan bill to help protect vulnerable children and strengthen prosecutions. I’ll continue working to make it law,” Grassley said. “Child trafficking in Georgia and nationwide is a crisis. Senator Grassley and I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Federal protections for vulnerable children and increase support for victims of trafficking,” Ossoff said. Grassley and Ossoff’s bill is endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Background: A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, in response to a Republican-led inquiry, found agencies within DOJ and HHS lack dedicated infrastructure for combatting child trafficking. Inter-agency collaboration on this issue is a critical first line of defense – it would minimize existing fragmentation and better allow federal agencies to address the distinct needs of child trafficking survivors. Specifically, the Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024 would: Set a timeline for the implementation the anti-trafficking recommendations included in GAO’s report; Ensure agencies within DOJ and HHS establish a mechanism to guide their offices’ anti-child-trafficking collaboration efforts; and Require DOJ to develop achievable performance goals for anti-child-trafficking programs. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/senate-passes-grassley-and-ossoffs-bill-to-combat-child-trafficking Download here: https://owens.house.gov/posts/owens-foxx-request-examination-on-child-trafficking

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Senate Bill 14 takes effect as law to prevent child sex trafficking

Video shows street where Odessa Perkins was trafficking, Perkins giving her testimony, and SB 14 explainers Odessa Perkins was trafficked for the first time in 8th grade. Following her experience she helped advocate for SB 14 to prevent traffickers from taking advantage of other kids. Senator Shannon Grove introduced Senate Bill 14 to increase the penalties for people found guilty of human trafficking.It’s a bill now passed as law to help keep victims off the streets. Odessa Perkins remembers walking with her mom down the street from Bakersfield High School. “My mom told me I was helping the family,” Perkins said. Together, they waited here for her trafficker, and when the man arrived, Perkins’ mother exchanged her daughter for drugs. “He took me to a hotel and did whatever it was he wanted to do to me and had me doing different things to him.” She was in junior high at the time. “I was told that I would be nothing more than a mattress for men to lay on,” Perkins said. Video shows street where Odessa Perkins was trafficking, Perkins giving her testimony, and SB 14 explainers Odessa Perkins was trafficked for the first time in 8th grade. Following her experience she helped advocate for SB 14 to prevent traffickers from taking advantage of other kids. Senator Shannon Grove introduced Senate Bill 14 to increase the penalties for people found guilty of human trafficking.It’s a bill now passed as law to help keep victims off the streets. Odessa Perkins remembers walking with her mom down the street from Bakersfield High School. “My mom told me I was helping the family,” Perkins said. Together, they waited here for her trafficker, and when the man arrived, Perkins’ mother exchanged her daughter for drugs. “He took me to a hotel and did whatever it was he wanted to do to me and had me doing different things to him.” She was in junior high at the time. “I was told that I would be nothing more than a mattress for men to lay on,” Perkins said. It’s stories like this, Senator Shannon Grove hoped to prevent when she introduced Senate Bill 14, a piece of legislation with hopes to protect the innocence in our community’s kids. SB 14 would classify child sex trafficking as a serious felony and would increase the penalties for repeat offenders To push the bill forward, Perkins shared her story to help make the bill a law. “Dear Senator, I am before you today as a survivor of human trafficking,” she told the legislators. “It was mind boggling me to experience politics on that level for the very first time,” Perkins recalled. The bill originally began as SB 1042, but it was denied in April 2022. “What do you think that feels like to a victim when you have lifelong trauma. You have constant PTSD and complex PTSD, and yet your trafficker, the man who beat you and reaped you repeatedly and set you up on these dates,…

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