Tag: human trafficking
FBI, NYPD raid New York office of company run by fashion executive Peter Nygard in connection to a human trafficking ring
The FBI and the NYPD raided the Times Square headquarters of Peter Nygard’s fashion company as part of a sex trafficking investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.
The searches were conducted Tuesday morning, Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, confirmed to ABC News. He declined to elaborate.
Word of the searches first was reported by The New York Times.
Nygard, 78, has been under investigation after a number of women accused him of sexually assaulting them at his Bahamas estate when they were young teens. Nygard’s Bahamas estate has been featured on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”
A spokesman for the FBI’s New York field office declined to comment.
Searches usually indicate the investigation is in the early stages and not an immediate precursor to criminal charges.
The accusations were detailed in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
“When Nygard became aware of the investigation into his sex trafficking ring, he resorted to tactics of violence, intimidation, bribery and payoffs to attempt to silence the victims and to continue his scheme,” according to the lawsuit.
Nygard, who has denied the allegations, has also been accused of abusive labor practices and tax evasion.
Ken Frydman, a spokesperson for Peter Nygard, told ABC News in a statement, “Nygard welcomes the federal investigation and expects his name to be cleared. He has not been charged, is not in custody and is cooperating with the investigation.”
Greg Gutzler and Lisa Haba, attorneys for victims in the ongoing civil lawsuit, said in a statement to ABC News:
“Given Mr. Nygard’s pattern of alleged horrific sexual abuse spanning decades and across the world, it is not surprising that he now finds himself under the scrutiny of the FBI. Our focus remains squarely on pursuing justice for the countless victims who have been so viciously harmed by Mr. Nygard and his enablers.”
Article ABCNews
Hotel owner with sex dungeon tried to buy girl for ‘slave training’
A Connecticut hotel owner who had a “sex dungeon” hidden at his business was arrested after he attempted to buy a preteen girl for “slave training” and “limitless sex” for two days, police said.
Simon Hessler was arrested Tuesday after investigators set up a sting to nab the 46-year-old man during a child prostitution and human trafficking investigation. Hessler was caught attempting to purchase a 12-year-old girl for two days in exchange for $500, the Hartford Courant reported.
The preteen girl, however, was a “very petite narcotics officer from East Hartford.”
Police began investigating Hessler in October after they discovered he sought photos of young Mexican girls for a “casting couch interview,” the newspaper reported, citing the arrest warrant. In conversations with Connecticut State Police Det. Samantha McCord, Hessler revealed he had a dungeon he used to train slaves. The alleged sex dungeon was “an elaborate sado-masochism room with multiple beds with whips and chains and handcuffs on the wall.” It also included a metal cage with a padlock.
Hessler shared with the detective several photos of the dungeon, which was located in Hessler’s business, New England Hospitality Management.
The hotel owner eventually asked McCord to bring him a “DCF/foster kid” so he could train her in his “slave quarters” and have sex with her, the police report stated. He allegedly asked for the girl to be dropped off at a trailer parked in the Manchester hotel parking lot where she would be left handcuffed with a black hood and on the floor.
Hessler was arrested once he pulled up to the trailer. Police also recovered 11 flash drives from Hessler’s house after they contacted his wife, who asked if her husband had “done something with underage girls.”
Hessler was arrested and faces several charges, including attempted felony to patronize a prostitute and second-degree attempted sex assault.
He is being held on $1 million bail and expected back in court on Dec. 12.
Family forced autistic relative to eat her mom’s ashes
A family in Louisiana held an autistic relative captive for nearly 11 months in a backyard cage and subjected her to shocking abuse, including forcing her to eat her mother’s cremated remains mixed with milk, federal authorities allege.
Department of Justice officials announced Thursday that a federal grand jury in New Orleans returned a six-count human trafficking and hate crime indictment in connection with the vile and twisted abuse sustained by the 22-year-old woman — identified only as D.P. — in Amite.
Details of the depraved allegations were outlined in an indictment obtained by the Times-Picayune, including accusations that the five family members shot the woman with a BB gun and covered her “from head to toe” in feces and urine.
Federal prosecutors also allege the woman’s relatives forced her to eat her mother’s ashes from a cereal bowl after mixing them with milk and to take meth and prescription painkillers under the threat of being reported to police if she stopped obeying the family’s orders to work at the home without getting paid.
The abuse, according to the indictment, began in August 2015, one day after the victim’s brother died, and continued through June 2016. The family members charged in connection with the allegations were identified as Raylaine Knope, 42; Terry Knope II, 45; Jody Lambert, 23; Taylor Knope, 20; and 21-year-old Bridget Lambert, who was charged separately for allegedly taking part in the forced-labor conspiracy.
It’s unclear how the victim is related to the suspects, who moved from a home in Kentwood they shared with the woman’s late mother to a mobile home in Amite in August 2015, according to the Times-Picayune.
Federal prosecutors also allege the family took extreme measures to make sure the woman didn’t try to escape, including regular death threats and holding her captive in a cage with no electricity or running water. They also forced her to make sexual advances to several men as part of a sex trafficking scheme, according to the indictment.
During one alleged incident, prosecutors said Terry Knope and Jody Lambert dumped a bucket of human waste onto the woman, leaving her entire body covered. She then began screaming as Jody Lambert laughed, according to the indictment.
The woman’s relatives were arrested in June 2016 after police received calls about a caged woman in the area, the Times-Picayune reports.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/27/family-forced-autistic-relative-to-eat-her-moms-ashes-feds/
High school soccer coach accused of pimping teen girls
A high school soccer coach who also worked as a rideshare driver was arrested for human trafficking after a 17-year-old girl called police and said she was being sold for sex, authorities in California said.
Elan Daniel Seagraves, 34, of Sacramento, was arrested on Christmas Day after the teen contacted the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and said she was sexually assaulted and being forced into human trafficking, sheriff officials said in a news release.
The girl told deputies she was hiding in the back yard of a home in south Sacramento at the time and that the man responsible for forcing her into performing sex acts for money was waiting for her in a nearby vehicle, sheriff officials said.
Responding deputies then found Seagraves in a car with another girl who was also 17. Both girls were victims of human trafficking, authorities said.
Investigators learned that Seagraves had worked as the boys’ soccer coach at Kennedy High School in Sacramento, as well as a coach and referee for various local youth soccer leagues. He also worked as a driver for both Uber and Lyft, according to sheriff officials.
Seagraves, who was arrested on charges related to human trafficking and pimping of a minor, remained held on $2 million bail as of Monday, jail records show. He’s scheduled to return to court Thursday, the Sacramento Bee reports.
There’s no indication that the allegations are connected to Seagraves’ role as a soccer coach or driver, but authorities want to talk to anyone who had interactions with him, KTXL reports.
“It’s absolutely 100 percent alarming,” Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Shaun Hampton told the station. “We want to encourage, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of any other things they may be involved in, it’s important to come forward.”
School district officials, meanwhile, said they were disappointed in Seagraves’ “unacceptable” behavior.
“While he passed a background check and had no prior offenses when we hired him to coach soccer in our district, we expect more appropriate behavior from someone we trusted to work with our kids,” according to a statement released by the Sacramento City Unified School District. “Mr. Seagraves will no longer be allowed to work with our kids in any capacity.”
Seagraves also holds a teaching credential and has worked in the past as a substitute teacher and an instructional aide, according to the Sacramento Bee, citing a government watchdog group called Transparent California.
An Uber official also confirmed that Seagraves had worked as a driver and passed a background check in accordance with state law. He has since been removed from the rideshare service, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Seagraves’ Lyft account has also been “immediately disabled,” according to company officials.
“These allegations are incredibly disturbing,” Lyft officials told the newspaper in a statement. “Our concern is with the victims, and we stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way that we can.”
Anyone with information regarding Seagraves is asked to contact Sacramento County sheriff’s officials at (916) 874-8002.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/01/high-school-soccer-coach-accused-of-pimping-teen-girls/