Georgia

Known today as the “Peach State,” Georgia, founded in 1733, is one of the original 13 states. It was named in honor of England’s King George II. During the Civil War, the fall of Atlanta was a crucial turning point in the defeat of the South. Today, Atlanta, which became Georgia’s capital in 1868, is a thriving city with major national corporations, and it is considered the economic and cultural center of the Southeast. The state flower is the Cherokee rose.

Human trafficking is a serious issue that affects people all around the world, including in Georgia. It is a form of modern slavery in which individuals are exploited for labor, sexual exploitation, or other purposes.

In Georgia, human trafficking can take many forms, including forced labor, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. It often affects vulnerable populations, such as immigrants, children, and people who are homeless or in poverty.

Georgia has been identified as a hub for human trafficking, due in part to its large immigrant population, international airports, and tourist industry. The state has taken steps to address the issue, including passing legislation to strengthen penalties for traffickers and to provide support and services to victims.

If you suspect that someone you know may be a victim of human trafficking, there are steps you can take to help. You can report the situation to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or by text at 233733. You can also contact local law enforcement or a trusted organization that provides services to victims of human trafficking. It is important to remember that the safety of the victim should be the top priority and to handle the situation with care and sensitivity.

 

 

Tharros Place: A New Hope for Minor Human Trafficking Victims in Chatham County
|

Tharros Place: A New Hope for Minor Human Trafficking Victims in Chatham County

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Every year since 2010, the President has dedicated this month to raise awareness about human trafficking domestically and abroad. Human trafficking is defined as the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some kind of labor or commercial sex act. In the United States, around 250,000 minors…

National Human Trafficking Prevention Month – U.S. Embassy in Georgia
|

National Human Trafficking Prevention Month – U.S. Embassy in Georgia

National Human Trafficking Prevention Month 2023 January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Every year since 2010, the President has dedicated the month to raise awareness about human trafficking and to educate the public about how to identify and prevent this crime. The U.S. Department of State raises awareness of human trafficking domestically and abroad, through…

Georgia Human Trafficking Unit arrest leads to rescue, guilty plea | News | albanyherald.com
|

Georgia Human Trafficking Unit arrest leads to rescue, guilty plea | News | albanyherald.com

ATLANTA — Attorney General Chris Carr announced that Shane Bean, 39, of Lithonia, has pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage female for sex. This case, which was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, involves a 17-year-old victim who was rescued during Operation Not Forgotten 2020. “This case started with the rescue of…

Defendant Extradited to the United States from Mexico to Face Sex Trafficking Charges
| | |

Defendant Extradited to the United States from Mexico to Face Sex Trafficking Charges

Leonardo Jimenez-Rodriguez was extradited to the United States yesterday and is scheduled to be arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr., at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on a six-count indictment charging him with sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate prostitution, alien smuggling and related offenses.  The defendant was arrested in…

Who are Georgiana Naghel & Luana Radu? Meet the Tate's Angels arrested on suspicion of …
|

Who are Georgiana Naghel & Luana Radu? Meet the Tate's Angels arrested on suspicion of …

The two women, called “Tate’s Angels,” were detained alongside Andrew Tate as part of a rape and human trafficking investigation. Let’s see who are the Tate’s Angels in detail. Tate’s Angels arrested: A model and a former police officer are reported to be the other two suspects arrested in connection with an investigation into claims…

Planned shelter in Georgia for juvenile human trafficking victims getting government funding
|

Planned shelter in Georgia for juvenile human trafficking victims getting government funding

A shelter under development in Savannah’s Chatham County for child survivors of human trafficking will receive a multi-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help fund operations for the 12-bed facility, scheduled to open in summer 2023. Tharros Place announced in December that the DOJ is awarding $250,000 annually over three years to…

| | |

Owner of Farm Labor Company Sentenced to 118 Months in Prison for Leading a Multi-State Conspiracy Involving Forced Labor of Mexican Farm Workers

Tampa, FL –  Bladimir Moreno, 55, was sentenced for leading a federal racketeering and forced labor conspiracy that victimized Mexican H-2A agricultural workers in the United States between 2015 and 2017. U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Edward Honeywell of the Middle District of Florida sentenced Moreno to 118 months in prison with three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay over $175,000 in restitution to the victims.

Moreno, the owner of Los Villatoros Harvesting LLC (LVH), the labor contracting company that employed the workers, was charged in September 2021 and pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Two of Moreno’s co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy under RICO, and a third, Guadalupe Mendes, 45, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation. They were sentenced in October 2022. Rodas, a citizen of Mexico, who worked for LVH as a recruiter, manager and supervisor, received 41 months in prison. Gamez, a U.S. citizen, who worked for LVH as a bookkeeper, manager and supervisor, received 37 months in prison. Mendes, a U.S. citizen, who worked for LVH as a manager and supervisor, received eight months of home detention and a $5,500 fine to be paid over 24 months of supervised release.

“Human trafficking, including forced labor campaigns that exploit vulnerable workers, is unlawful, immoral and inhumane,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This defendant abused his power as a business owner to capitalize on the victims’ vulnerabilities and immigration status, luring those seeking a better quality of life with false promises of lawful work paying a fair wage. The defendant forced Mexican agricultural workers to labor under inhumane conditions, confiscated their passports, imposed exorbitant fees and debts, and threatened them with deportation or false arrest. The Department of Justice is committed to seeking justice for survivors of forced labor campaigns, holding perpetrators accountable and stripping wrongdoers of their illegal profits.”

“Forcing individuals to work against their will using abusive and coercive tactics is not only unconscionable but illegal,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “We will continue to work with our task force partners to combat human trafficking in all its forms, including prosecuting those who exploit vulnerable workers.” 

According to court documents, Moreno owned, operated and managed LVH — a farm labor contracting company that brought large numbers of temporary, seasonal Mexican workers into the United States on H-2A agricultural visas — as a criminal enterprise. Moreno compelled victims to work in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina, and he engaged in a pattern of other racketeering activity that included visa fraud and fraud in foreign labor contracting, among other things. In order to facilitate the enterprise, Moreno made false statements in applications to federal agencies for the company to be granted temporary, H-2A agricultural workers. Moreno and his co-conspirators also made false promises to the Mexican farm workers themselves to encourage them to work for LVH and then charged them inflated sums to come into the United States on H-2A visas.

Once the immigrants arrived in the United States, Moreno and his co-conspirators coerced over a dozen of them into providing long hours of physically demanding agricultural labor, six to seven days a week, for de minimis pay. Moreno and his co-conspirators used various forms of coercion, including imposing debts on the workers; confiscating their passports; subjecting them to crowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions; harboring them in the United States after their visas had expired; and threatening them with arrest and deportation if they failed to comply with Moreno’s and his co-conspirators’ demands. Later, in an attempt to conceal the criminal enterprise from federal investigators, Moreno created and provided to investigators fraudulent records that contained falsified information about the workers’ pay and hours, and repeatedly made false statements to federal investigators.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Handberg and Acting Special Agent in Charge DeWitt announced the sentence.

The Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. The Task Force received assistance from the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Colorado Legal Services Migrant Farm Worker Division, Legal Aid Services of Oregon Farmworker Program and Indiana Legal Services Worker Rights and Protection Project.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilyssa Spergel for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Avner Shapiro, Maryam Zhuravitsky and Matthew Thiman of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Transitional Housing For Young Girls Who Survived Human Trafficking Is Coming To Georgia
|

Transitional Housing For Young Girls Who Survived Human Trafficking Is Coming To Georgia

Source: Tinnakorn Jorruang / Getty Tharros Place, a shelter that provides support for survivors of human trafficking, is set to receive a massive grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The nonprofit has been awarded $250,000 which will be dispersed annually over the next three years to build a 12-bed facility exclusively for young female victims…

Knowledge Vault stories organized by American state and territory
| |

Knowledge Vault stories organized by American state and territory

Stories sorted by location Click any location name to learn more and pull up any related Knowledge Vault stories, articles, or resources. States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia  Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland  Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey  New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina  South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming  Map of United States of America with state names Territories American Samoa Baker Island Guam  Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll …

Movement grows to abolish US prison labor system that treats workers as ‘less than human’
|

Movement grows to abolish US prison labor system that treats workers as ‘less than human’

Hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people work in US prisons as part of their sentences, often without basic protections and for little to no pay For more than two decades imprisoned in California, Samual Brown worked more than a dozen different jobs and was transferred between penitentiaries throughout the state – earning less than a…