For the third year, Bethany Bible Church in Phoenix is hosting Free2Laugh, a comedy fundraiser to help stop child sex trafficking.  Comedians Carlos Oscar, Dana Daniels and Leland Classen are donating their humor and comedic expertise so that children who have been trapped in the sex trades will be freed from their captors and have a place to turn their lives around.  Proceeds from the event will help StreetLightUSA^SM open an additional cottage to house and nurture these devastated children.

Last year or even just last week, girls such as *Millie, *Jayne, *Shauna, *Marie and *Marilyn were living a horrible day-to-day existence that had little joy.  These young teens each had a “boyfriend” who made his living by selling the girls for sex to anyone who would pay for the “privilege” of raping a child.  As often as not, the customers and the boyfriend did more than just have sex.  The girls were subjected to beatings, knifings and guns held to their heads.  They were infected with diseases, and some were forced to abort the babies they conceived.  They endured threats of greater physical harm to themselves or their families if they didn’t comply with the rules, or didn’t bring in enough income each night.  They were forced to engage in unimaginable sex acts, ten or more times each day.  The stakes were high, and life was hard and hopeless.

Now, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Free2Laugh and numerous other generous organizations and donors, these girls have a safe place to live at StreetlightUSA.  They are provided with education, medical care, food and housing, counseling, mentoring and life skills.  They are changing their views about themselves and they are learning to distinguish the lies that defined their worth and personhood.

Please plan to attend Free2Laugh with your friends and family.  Carlos Oscar and his team offer clean and family friendly humor that will keep you laughing until your sides ache.  Your soul will be lifted up and you will know that you have made a contribution to help those without laughter to have a new chance.

Carlos Oscar will keep you laughing until your sides ache–Video.

Free to Laugh.  Laugh to Free

Date: Saturday, May12, 5:00 and 8:00 PM
Location:  Bethany Bible Church
6060 N. 7th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85013
Ticket cost:  $20.00 each
 Purchase online now.  Both shows will sell out, so order your tickets now.
Tickets are not tax-deductible.

Can’t make the show?  You can make a fully tax deductible donation to StreetLightUSA and still participate with your resources.

Performers: Carlos Oscar, Leland Classen, Dana Daniels

Partnerships: Generous corporate sponsors are underwriting the costs of the event so StreetLightUSA can receive their full portion of the ticket sales.

Current Partners:

• Bethany Bible Church
• Rock Point Church
• Wolfley’s Neighborhood Grill
• Zoyo Neighborhood Yogurt
• Phoenix Christian Unified Schools
• Smiles by Garza Dentistry
• Dunkin Donuts
• Advanced Auto Service and Tire Centers
• State Farm Insurance-Paul Hensiek
• Schmeiser Olsen & Watts LLP
• **Arizona DiamondBacks
• **Hilton Inn Suites

**Special Internet offers from these partners

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of some great family entertainment with Carlos Oscar, and be part of the abolition of child sex slavery and benefit to StreetLightUSA.

*Names have been changed for privacy.

Clean humor is the trademark of Carlos Oscar and the Free2Laugh comedy benefit show to stop child sex slavery. Photo credit: Freetolaugh.org

The final four winners of the 2011 Texas Hold 'Em tournament split over $4000 in winnings. Photo credit: Cary Peters

The Second Annual All-In Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament is open for registrants and is ready to take another swing at child sex trafficking.  This tourney is the brainchild of Michael Calens and Kevin Segal, member and pastor of Refinery Christian Church in Goodyear, Arizona.  Last year, they heard the staggering statistics about child sexual exploitation in Phoenix and the US, and knew they couldn’t sit by and do nothing.  They engaged people through their church and workplaces to participate in an innovative benefit poker tournament to raise funds for StreetLightUSA^SM, the major residential care facility in Arizona for girls rescued from child sex slavery.

Last year’s results exceeded the team’s expectations, raising over $21,000 to aid the trafficking survivors.  This year, Calens hopes to raise even more and bring awareness of this terrible crime against children to a greater number of Phoenix area residents.

Typcially, the kids who become ensnared by a pimp are runaways with histories of abuse in the home.  About one out of three are wooed by an exploiter within 48 hours of being on the streets, then, after a dependency relationship is established, the child will be prostituted out, either on the streets, through strip clubs, massage parlors or porn media,  or via the internet.  The only ways the vast majority escape the life as a prostituted person is through death or a deliberate rescue intervention.  Many who are picked up by law enforcement have no safe place to go, except juvenile detention.

StreetLightUSA offers safe and comprehensive residential treatment to those girls who have been part of the commercial sex industry.  Segal and Calens want to see the community financially back the 48-bed facility so the girls who are recovered have a chance to heal and turn their lives around. Individual players and teams can still sign up for the Texas Hold ‘Em event, but don’t delay.  Seats are going fast.

Tournament details:

When: Friday, May 4, and Saturday, May 5, 2012
Online registration closes at midnight, Thursday May 3.
     Walk-ins will be accepted at the event up to the number of allowed seats.
Location:  Ft. McDowell Casino
Fountain Hills/Ft. McDowell, Arizona (Map)
Registration:   $60 Tournament Buy-in
$50 Re-buys, $50 Add-on
$5000 chips to start
Check-in:  6:00 PM
Start Time:  7:00 PM
Cash Prizes:  50% of all buy-ins go to the top 20 finishers!
Gift Bags:  Gifts, discounts, and more goodies from our sponsors
Early Bird:  Sign up by March 23, 2012 and get an additional $1,000 in chips to start!

Register online now and help put some child sex traffickers out of business.
If you can’t make the tournament, you can still donate directly to StreetLightUSA to help the cause.

The Sex+Money team in Washington DC during their national tour for their film screenings. Credits: Sex+Money team

The newest documentary on sex trafficking in the US, Sex+Money, investigates and verifies the unbelievable depth of the human sex slavery in our country.  Executive producer, Morgan Perry, has coordinated the filming, along with the interviews of over 75 convicted pimps, victims, law enforcement officials and human services representatives to create a compelling look inside the fastest growing criminal enterprise on the planet.

In an interview with Miss Perry, her passion for the cause of stopping all sex slavery, including the heinous crime of children forced into prostitution, came across very strongly.  She attended the University of the Nations and majored in Communications in Mass Media with a special emphasis on addressing social injustice issues.  In 2007, she was part of an educational program that toured 20 countries in nine months, closely examining the social justice issues in each nation.  The heartbreaking thread that was common to all regions was the immense issue of children being sold as objects of rape by strangers numerous times each night.  In most places, the child prostitution was blatant and easily accessed.

Perry and four other students were galvanized into action.  They published a book, Sex+Money: A Global Search for Human Worth, then went on to uncover the lesser known problem of sex trafficking in the US. The result is the Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth documentary, which was released on DVD in August 2011.  The film team is currently on tour to all 50 states to screen the video, help raise awareness of the sex trafficking issue, and raise funds for StreetLight USA^SM , a residential aftercare program for girls recovered from the ravages of the sex trade industry.

Perry’s findings of the current status of US sex slavery:

• Recruitment of girls into forced child prostitution happens in very public places such as malls and bus stops.  Often underage girls are listed on Backpage.com and Craig’s List.
• Most common venues for the girls to be working:  Street prostitution, massage parlors, escort services, truck stops and airports
• Pimps call local high schools “buffets” due to the high number of available vulnerable girls
• Pimps send teen boys and girls into the local high schools to “befriend” the lonely and disenfranchised students and invite them to an event (pimp party) where they will be “valued and included”–often meaning given drugs or alcohol and raped and then enslaved.

Factors contributing to the mushrooming sex trafficking pandemic

• Five primary elements of DEMAND are pornography, prostitution, poverty, commercialization of sex in mainstream media, and the breakdown of the family
• Internet pornography is a $15 billion industry with incredible ease of access
• Prostitution  is becoming a high-tech operation with many of the contacts made via internet.
• False assumptions: Young girls on the streets, in porn pictures, or in sex ads are over 18, choose to be in the sex trades, or they are not worthy of intervention because they are “prostitutes”.
• The breakdown of the family.  Over 90% of children who end up with a pimp have already been abused or neglected.  Many have been sexually abused in foster care, by family members, or close acquaintances.  These victims become runaways to escape the pain, but are picked up by pimps within 48 hours on the street.
• Because of the prior abuse and the beatings and threats from the pimps, the girls often feel helpless to leave or contact authorities.
• State laws and law enforcement agencies often vilify and punish the children who are sex slaves and let the pimps and johns get off with minor consequences.

Determined to make a difference in the staggering sex trafficking statistics in this country, Morgan Perry is one of numerous twenty-something young people who are sounding the alarm.  She has networked with lawmakers, social service agencies, FBI, churches, juvenile corrections facilities, and major national organizations that are fighting sex slavery to catalyze citizens to take action.  Her nationwide crusade via the film, Sex+Money, is a practical, compelling picture of her own passion for the cause.

Additionally, Perry is part of PhotogenX, a non-profit organization that developed a Discipleship Training program to use photography to compel cultural change and create abolitionists who are equipped to challenge the social injustices of our day.

Watch the video about the Discipleship Program

Readers are encouraged to purchase the Sex+Money DVD or attend a local screening of the film to show their support for Morgan and her team, and to make their own statement that sex slavery will no longer be tolerated.

If the porn industry moves into Phoenix, how will it affect your family and community? Photo credit: Photobucket/R_M_A_2007

A new Los Angeles city ordinance went into effect on March 5 that may cause an influx of pornography film makers into the Phoenix area.  The city council has mandated a measure requiring pornography actors to wear condoms while engaging in intercourse.  The film companies will also need to pay a fee for a film permit. Since the law only applies to shoots done outside of a studio, it will only affect the smaller companies and a portion of the large producers that are not filmed on a studio soundstage.  Nevertheless, actors are saying they will move to Phoenix where the industry is unregulated so they won’t be constrained in their “freedom of expression”.

Los Angeles is home to about 90 percent of the pornography industry, and California and New Hampshire are the only states where it is currently legal.  The production of such films generally will fall under a state’s laws concerning prostitution,obscenity,  federal record keeping and labeling, copyright law, enforceable model releases.  Arizona does not allow pornography production, but according to an online lawyer, there are ways people get around the law.

Organizations such as Bridgebuilders, Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), and Arizona Family Council are aware of the potential for the porn industry to begin relocating in Phoenix.  According to Aaron Baer, Communications Director for CAP, “We don’t have a ton of information on what the laws are currently, but we are looking into it.”

The Los Angeles law was enacted to stop the spread of HIV and other STDs.  Between 2007 and 2010, at least 36 adult film stars have died from HIV, suicide, homicide and drugs, but the industry denies there is a problem.

Since the pornography industry is one of the ways that children are trafficked in sex trades, StreetLightUSA^SM is very concerned about the possible danger related to child recruitment in Phoenix.  Although it is illegal for children to be involved in adult movies and porn, Internet Watch Foundation found 1,536 individual child abuse domains in 2008, and sexual imagery of children brings billions of dollars in revenue.  For some, this may seem like an economic boon to the state which is slowly coming out of the red financially.

However, Shelley Lubben, former pornography actress and founder of The Pink Cross, a non-profit that reaches out to actors and actresses wanting out of the business, warns against allowing the migration to the state.  She comments, “What they bring with them is rampant – STD’s, prostitution, drug trafficking, let me tell you – they are going to recruit young women in Phoenix.” (Bridgebuilders newsletter, 3/5/12) 

StreetLightUSA^SM is here for the children who are trafficked in any of the sex trades.  There are already far too many juveniles whose lives are destroyed in these criminal activities such as forced prostitution and pornography.  It is time we put a stop to allowing additional destructive businesses to come into Phoenix and have access to our children and families.  Join our Campaign13^SM to help restore the young ones who have already been greatly damaged by child sex trafficking.

Ashley Jessup is charged with 2 counts of child rape and other sex crimes against her infant son.

Ashley Jessup (24) of Columbus, Ohio was arraigned September 2011 on 4 counts of sexual abuse against her infant son. She allegedly videotaped herself in sexual acts with the 10-month-old and sent the film via email to her boyfriend in Battle Creek, Michigan. Her bail has been set at $1 million.

The charges are:

• two counts of rape -first degree felony
• one count of child endangerment
• one count of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor.

Jessup and her boyfriend had been exchanging sexually explicit material, and she claims her boyfriend told her to take the videos of the baby and send them to him.  The emails were found by the boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, who alerted the police.

See arraignment video

Possible penalties for conviction

• Rape of a child less than 13 years of age:  Felony of the first degree: 15 years to life
• Child Endangerment: (Definition: Entice, coerce, permit, encourage, compel, hire, employ, use, or allow the child to act, model, or in any other way participate in, or be photographed for, the production, presentation, dissemination, or advertisement of any material or performance that the offender knows or reasonably should know is obscene, is sexually oriented matter, or is nudity-oriented matter):  Felony of the second degree: up to 8 years
• Pandering sexually-oriented  material involving a minor: (Definition: Create, record, photograph, film, develop, reproduce, or publish any material that shows a minor participating or engaging in sexual activity, masturbation, or bestiality) felony of the second degree:  up to 8 years

No charges have been filed on Jessup’s boyfriend, but an investigation is under way.

Jessup’s child has been placed in protective custody.

The court indictment papers detail the charges against Ashley Jessup.

Romantic destination vacations are perfect Valentine's excursions with your spouse. Credits: Photobucket/camanda87

Fiji. Bahamas. Fort Lauderdale. Las Vegas. Thailand. Port au Prince. San Francisco. Honolulu.

These are all romantic place names that stir up images of walking hand in hand down the beach or watching great entertainment with your special someone.  With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, travel plans for holiday get-aways are being solicited with all the fervor of last minute ticket sales to the Super Bowl.

While these destinations offer great vacations for the couples in love, there is another side to these locales that is not often seen by the public eye.  Many excursion brokers market to men, and sometimes women, who don’t intend to take their spouses to the sexual encounters they plan to have.  Sex Tourism is the name given to travel, usually abroad, for the purpose of having sex. A large subset of this industry involves sex with minors who are held in brothels around the world.

The multi-billion dollar industry caters to those who think they might get away with something in a far-away place that they might not feel comfortable doing at home.  However, sex tourism with children is illegal in most countries, and the perpetrator can be charged with criminal activity in the homeland and in the destination country.   The penalties can be quite severe, and an American charged with crimes on foreign soil may find he has no rights at all.

Not all child sex tourism takes place out of the US. In January 2012, a Texas man, Kenzie Nelson, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for sex tourism with a minor.  His destination with the child was from Dallas to just across the state line to McAlester, Oklahoma, a mere three hours away.

In other states, Nelson’s activities would be called child sex trafficking, and could be worth up to 25 or more years in prison.  Whether paid sex acts with a minor happen in the back seat of a car two blocks off the main drag, or in another locale to which one travels with a child or to meet a child, the result is known as commercial sexual exploitation of a child or child sex trafficking.

US federal agents are getting more sophisticated in tracking down international child prostitution rings.  State laws are getting stricter for the johns or customers who seek out children for paid sex. Indiana just passed a tough law so law enforcement officers could crack down on the sex tourism connected with the Super Bowl.

Having sex with a child is never romantic.  It is the most serious form of child abuse, and it is a crime.  It is also one of the most destructive things that can happen to a young person, and the devastating effects will last a lifetime.  The results for the abuser can also last a lifetime with a felony conviction.

Valentine’s Day is a great time to express your care and commitment to your spouse.  Set up a great romantic escape that will leave you both feeling invigorated in your love for each other. But, leave the children alone so they can continue to be innocent little ones and you won’t have to deal with being a criminal.  After all, real men and women don’t have sex with kids.

Police and FBI units around the country worked in tandem on National Arrest Johns Day. Credits: Holly Craw

Indianapolis legislature and law enforcement expected to deal with sex traffickers locally during Super Bowl weekend, but police and FBI departments broadened their attention to a nationwide sting of sex buyers.  The ten days of surveillance and arrests, known as “The National Day of Johns Arrests”, culminated February 6 with 314 men in eight states being booked on sex solicitation charges.

The states involved in the sting:

•  Illinois (Orland Park, Aurora, Elgin, and Kane and Cook Counties)
•  Indiana (Indianapolis)
•  Massachusetts (Boston)
•  California (Los Angeles)
•  Arizona (Phoenix)
•  Nevada (Las Vegas)
•  Virginia (Newport News)
•  Ohio (Cincinnati and Dayton)

Local police and FBI departments tracked down a total of 565 individuals by targeting likely transaction places–hotels, street corners, brothels and Internet websites.  Other charges included misdemeanors (227-some of which were for prostitution), human trafficking (2), pimping (5), pandering (3), theft (4), possession of drugs (10), weapons (12).

State laws are casting attention more on the demand side of the sex for sale equation and giving tougher penalties to the purchasers of sex, especially cases involving minors. Some locales have “john schools” for the arrested customers.  Here they have opportunity to avoid prosecution by paying a stiff fine and taking a one day class on the effects of paid sex for them and the community.

States are also making progress in treating the prostituted persons as victims rather than as criminals, and offering assistance for them to turn their lives around.  Agencies such as StreetLightUSA^SM, which cares for female teen sex trafficking victims, work very closely with local law enforcement and social services organizations so the rescued girls can have a safe place and the multitude of needed resources for a second chance.

Sara Kruzan was tried as an adult for killing her pimp and is serving life in prison. Credits: Photobucket/abdullatif99

January 11, 2012, was the fourth annual National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Organizations around the country hosted events to bring greater awareness of this modern day enslavement and calls to action to fight against it.

A sampling of a few of the happenings demonstrates that US citizens are insisting that our governmental agencies and communities take notice and take action to stop sex trafficking, child sex slavery and labor trafficking.

 Seattle:  Petitions from 720,000 individuals were presented to Attorney General Rob McKenna, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, calling for an end to sex trafficking.  The signature drive was headed by The Body Shop beauty retailer, ECPAT USA, and The Somaly Mam Foundation.

Sacramento: Calls from all over the country flooded Governor Jerry Brown’s office on behalf of Sara Kruzan.  The callers asked for clemency for a 16-year-old girl who killed her pimp after being trafficked by him for years.  She has served 18 years of a life sentence and has become an activist from prison against human trafficking.

Phoenix:  Shared Hope International conducted an all day training for sex trafficking activists on January 12.

Washington DC:  The Washington Times ran a story about a 2010 survey of 25 former pimps, giving demographics and stories to illustrate the lifestyle of some sex traffickers.

Washington DC:  The Polaris Project is sponsoring a month long photo event for citizens to submit a picture of themselves with a sign indicating they are part of a group that is against Human Trafficking.

St. Louis:  Nix Conference and Meeting Managers signed a Meeting Planners` Code of Conduct, created with ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking.),   The group will train their client hotels to look for signs of trafficking and work to save the victims.

Indiana:  The state Senate unamimously passed a “the most comprehensive” anti-trafficking bill in the county.  The legislation goes to the House and is expected to be passed and in place a week before the SuperBowl, the sporting event that draws huge numbers of traffickkers and their entourages.

Hawaii:  7 new anti-trafficking bills were introduced in the state legislature, including prevention programs in the school.

Toledo:  The Sisters of St.Francis hosted a conference of women’s groups to learn how to deal with sex trafficking victims.  The city is the 4th largest hub of sex slavery in the US.  See video.

Placed in the middle of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day has become one for creatively addressing the challenges of modern day slavery.  The cause of abolishing exploitation of people is gaining momentum, and people are beginning to take a zero-tolerance attitude in the matter.  After all, our children, our communities, our nation and our future are at stake.

If you suspect that someone is being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline – 1 888-373-7888.

Charged with sex trafficking, rape, kidnapping and more: Kendale Judge and Shanique Davis Credits: Brooklyn DA's office

Consider this scenario. An adolescent girl, age 13, is in foster care, presumably because she was abused or neglected sufficiently in her home to warrant placement. The foster family may have been very loving and mature (or not), but the girl’s pain is so intense that she can’t handle what is offered to her. She runs away.

Prince Charming finds her on the streets, likely within 48 hours. He convinces her that he will take care of her, but employs brute force to beat her into submission. In just a few more hours, pictures of the girl appear on Backpage.com for sexual services. No one who responds to the ad balks at the very young countenance of this “call girl”, who is compelled to be raped and violated by numerous “respectable” local citizens in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of New York City.

One day, the child is taken to an apartment for a new customer, with the pimp, Kendale Judge, waiting downstairs so she can’t run away. In a moment of panicked desperation, the girl deliberately and frantically pounds on the wrong door and flies to the phone to call her mom and 911. She is battered and bruised from being kicked down a stairwell by Judge, bleeding vaginally, and terrified.

However, her actions brought the arrest and indictment of Judge (21) and his accomplice, Shanique Davis (19). Both have been charged with sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, endangering the welfare of a child, kidnapping and rape.

So what happens to the little girl?  Obviously, she can’t return home, and foster parents typically are not able to deal with the magnitude of the physical, emotional and mental complications that such children face.  Fortunately, New York City has some residential resources and personnel equipped to meet the needs and work toward healing.  Most cities don’t have such facilities, and the children who have been sex trafficked are re-victimized by a system that will incarcerate them or put them in temporary holding facilities.

StreetLightUSA^SM is one of a handful of organizations prepared to take in such girls and provide holistic services to bring them into health in all areas of their lives.  Teens from 11-17 are housed in a community of six cottages with capacity for 48 residents, and they have come to the StreetLight Center for Excellence and Treatment from as far away as Alaska, Ohio and Texas.

There are tens of thousands of girls like this one who are in need of proper care and intensive, long-term restoration that StreetLightUSA offers.  Campaign13 is a far-reaching awareness program initiated by StreetLightUSA for bringing the horrific story of modern day sexual exploitation and child rape for profit to light.  Ordinary citizens, church groups, civic organizations and corporations can take a stand to let their communities know the seriousness of the problem and say they won’t be silent and allow it to continue.  Your voice is needed to make a difference in your world.  Find out more about Campaign13 and the work of StreetLightUSA, and share this message with your friends.

These incidents remind us of the dangers of the internet, and its use as a tool for sexual encounters.  Although these unfortunates were not children, electronic media is a prime way that minors are drawn into relationships with predators through the deceptive picture of compassion and promises of a better life. Once entrapped in a life of crime and violence, the children are often sold as rape objects on the internet.

Overt or covert online ads for sexual services are used in outrageously growing numbers, both by the solicitors of sex or their pimps, and the customers looking for a “good time”.  Sometimes, the subjects of the adult or personals sections are far from adults and are in reality, children under the age of 18.  Last year, Craig’s List shut down their adult internet section after a concerted attack by several state attorneys-general decrying the site as a hothouse for child sex trafficking. Currently, Backpage.com is receiving similar heat. Commercial sexual exploitation of minors, also known as child sex slavery or forced prostitution of children, is a growing criminal enterprise. Little children are being sold for sex every day in our neighborhoods.

So, what was the first thing that came to your mind when you read, “Detroit”? Perhaps it was the uttering of words, “This incident occurred in Michigan, NOT my state.”  There is no state or region that is inoculated against these atrocities and each has its own history of equally gut-wrenching headlines.

StreetLightUSA^SM continues to lead the fight for awareness and action against this horrendous form of exploitative child rape.  Our newest rescued survivor made this comment about her pimp and the devastating abuse she endured from him, “How could I have believed he cared….”. After three weeks at StreetLightUSA’s residential program, she has stabilized and is now ready for healing.

We need your help to continue to STOP child rape for profit in our backyard. Your support to STOP all forms of child rape, and your financial contribution is what makes our work possible. Your donation helps to provide activities for the girls, ensure qualified and skilled staff, and increases our capacity to work with our justice system to fill the gaps that prevent children from receiving the needed services to aid in their healing. BECOME AN AMBASSADOR FOR CHANGE. Support our work with your tax-deductible contribution at any time throughout the year.  Your offering will help provde care for a few girls and protect them from returning to the streets.

We can do this with your help.