Texas Insider Report: SAN ANTONIO Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today welcomed federal state and local law enforcement officials prosecutors and crime victim advocacy groups to the South Texas Coalition against Human Traffickings 2011 conference in San Antonio. Delivering the conferences keynote address Attorney General Abbott highlighted Texas law enforcement authorities joint efforts to combat human trafficking statewide.
Collaboration is absolutely essential to unravel human traffickers tangled web of crime" Attorney General Abbott told conference members. Human traffickers specialize in using force fraud and coercion to compel their victims into modern-day slavery. By continuing to build up the demonstrated collaboration weve already achieved in Texas law enforcement officials can help ensure our State is both hostile territory for human traffickers and a safe haven for their victims."
Attorney General Abbott discussed why dismantling human trafficking operations requires collaboration at the local state and federal level from law enforcement agencies prosecutors and victim advocacy groups. Most recently the North Texas Trafficking Task Force which included the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit state and federal law enforcement agencies and six North Texas police departments conducted undercover operations through Super Bowl Sunday that resulted in a total of 133 arrests.
In one case the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit and Grapevine police officers arrested a female and charged her with prostitution. After she was released from custody the woman told the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit that she was a sex trafficking victim and identified her trafficker. Dallas police officers and task force members successfully located and arrested Joshua Andrews 39 and charged him with Trafficking in Persons. Law enforcement authorities connected the woman with crime victim advocates to help her recover from her traffickers abuse.
Attorney General Abbott also emphasized the continued work of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force to identify investigate and prosecute trafficking cases statewide. Recently the task forces joint investigation determined that a woman and her three children were trapped in a forced-labor situation after they were smuggled into El Paso through a tunnel running under the U.S.-Mexico border. Two of the smugglers were identified and indicted on trafficking charges.
Finally Attorney General Abbott noted that collaborative prosecutorial efforts also protect the State from human traffickers. In a case that was jointly prosecuted by the Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. Attorneys Office in Houston a federal jury convicted the defendant of trafficking young females for forced unpaid prostitution and sentenced him to almost 34 years in prison. This spring the Attorney Generals Office will assist the U.S. Attorneys Office in Houston with another domestic sex trafficking case. According to investigators six defendants coerced women and children into prostitution and transported them from Texas to other states.
For more information about the Office of the Attorney Generals battle against human trafficking and a copy of the 2011 Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force report visit the agencys website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
Texas Insider Report: SAN ANTONIO Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today welcomed federal state and local law enforcement officials prosecutors and crime victim advocacy groups to the South Texas Coalition against Human Traffickings 2011 conference in San Antonio. Delivering the conferences keynote address Attorney General Abbott highlighted Texas law enforcement authorities joint efforts to combat human trafficking statewide.
Collaboration is absolutely essential to unravel human traffickers tangled web of crime" Attorney General Abbott told conference members. Human traffickers specialize in using force fraud and coercion to compel their victims into modern-day slavery. By continuing to build up the demonstrated collaboration weve already achieved in Texas law enforcement officials can help ensure our State is both hostile territory for human traffickers and a safe haven for their victims."
Attorney General Abbott discussed why dismantling human trafficking operations requires collaboration at the local state and federal level from law enforcement agencies prosecutors and victim advocacy groups. Most recently the North Texas Trafficking Task Force which included the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit state and federal law enforcement agencies and six North Texas police departments conducted undercover operations through Super Bowl Sunday that resulted in a total of 133 arrests.
In one case the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit and Grapevine police officers arrested a female and charged her with prostitution. After she was released from custody the woman told the Attorney Generals Special Investigations Unit that she was a sex trafficking victim and identified her trafficker. Dallas police officers and task force members successfully located and arrested Joshua Andrews 39 and charged him with Trafficking in Persons. Law enforcement authorities connected the woman with crime victim advocates to help her recover from her traffickers abuse.
Attorney General Abbott also emphasized the continued work of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force to identify investigate and prosecute trafficking cases statewide. Recently the task forces joint investigation determined that a woman and her three children were trapped in a forced-labor situation after they were smuggled into El Paso through a tunnel running under the U.S.-Mexico border. Two of the smugglers were identified and indicted on trafficking charges.
Finally Attorney General Abbott noted that collaborative prosecutorial efforts also protect the State from human traffickers. In a case that was jointly prosecuted by the Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. Attorneys Office in Houston a federal jury convicted the defendant of trafficking young females for forced unpaid prostitution and sentenced him to almost 34 years in prison. This spring the Attorney Generals Office will assist the U.S. Attorneys Office in Houston with another domestic sex trafficking case. According to investigators six defendants coerced women and children into prostitution and transported them from Texas to other states.
For more information about the Office of the Attorney Generals battle against human trafficking and a copy of the 2011 Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force report visit the agencys website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
