Green Bay Wisconsin
Human trafficking spreading through Wisconsin
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Experts%3A Human trafficking often linked with drug dealing%2C sexual assault and robberies
Worldwide%2C human trafficking generates %2432 billion a year%2C according to a United Nations agency
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Human trafficking spreading through Wisconsin
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Story highlights
Experts%3A Human trafficking often linked with drug dealing%2C sexual assault and robberies
Worldwide%2C human trafficking generates %2432 billion a year%2C according to a United Nations agency
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Doug Schneider | USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Updated 12:00 p.m. CT June 6, 2015
To Sister Celine Goessl, the news was tragic but not surprising.
Police who staged a raid at a Fox Valley motel in April found a 17-year-old Green Bay girl and a 14-year-old Appleton girl being sold to men for sex. The 14-year-old, who police said had seen 18 men before the arrest, would tell police that she needed money to repay a suspected pimp who had threatened her.
Prosecutors said the teens were the victims of human trafficking — a form of slavery in which force, fraud or coercion is employed to make another person provide labor, usually a sex act. Prosecutors charged the three Green Bay adults who accompanied the girls with prostitution, child trafficking, soliciting a child for prostitution and child enticement.
For Sister Goessl, it's a story she hears all too often.
"It seems like this is happening in almost every single county in Wisconsin," she said.
The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance has documented trafficking cases in more than half of Wisconsin's 72 counties, both urban and rural, amid more than 200 cases overall. Three-fourths involved sex trafficking. About one-sixth of the victims were minors.
But as trafficking has spread, it has become harder to find and more difficult to stop. Experts say pimps and prostitutes use the Internet to arrange meetings with "johns" by posting ads on backpage.com and other websites.
"What we don't see is the old stereotypical image of the street-walker," said Lyn Beyer, executive director of Reach Counseling Services Inc., which provides sexual-assault prevention and counseling services in the Fox Valley. "Nowadays, everything is done (online) or through cellphones, so most of this happens in hotel rooms. So that's part of the reason why the community doesn't get a sense that it's happening here."
Beyer said human traffickers often move up from Chicago, stopping at Wisconsin cities along Interstate 41 before heading west.
Green Bay, with its location along interstates, attractiveness to tourists and its ability to attract thousands of cash-laden weekend visitors for football games and concerts, can present a level of demand that appeals greatly to traffickers, said Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Valley, who frequently investigates sex crimes against minors.
Beyond Brown County
Green Bay police made eight prostitution arrests during a sting operation in spring last year, then busted a total of 22 hookers and customers during a crackdown in the fall. Ashwaubenon public safety officers have made arrests, targeting both prostitutes and the people who pay them.
"We also try to get to the people who traffic them," said Capt. Jody Crocker. "But that's difficult because they may fear violence, or they may view that person as their lifeline."
Getty Images/iStockphoto
But the problem is not limited to Brown County.
• In Oshkosh, authorities made 31 arrests linked to prostitution and human trafficking in 2013. A year later, they reported making 50.
• In Shawano County, three women were charged with prostitution last September after they offered sex for money.
• In Sheboygan, a 29-year-old man agreed in May to plead no contest to one count of human trafficking and another of trafficking of a child. Prosecutors say the man brought teenage girls to Sheboygan and arranged for them to have sex with men at various locations, ordering the girls to give him the money they collected.
• In Wausau, a 40-year-old man was convicted last year of trafficking a 22-year-old woman who was grabbed off a Milwaukee street in 2010. A judge sentenced the man to 17 years in prison after testimony showed that he forced the women to have sex with different men in motels over a nine-day span before her escape.
• Statewide, 10 Wisconsin children were rescued from trafficking and 100 suspects were arrested over one weekend in 2013 during a nationwide FBI investigation.
Police elsewhere tell similar stories — and say they could do more if they had more resources.
"If this office needs to do a drug case, we have multiple officers we can assign and we can get help from (neighboring) departments," said Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Valley, who frequently investigates sex crimes involving underage victims. "For human-trafficking cases, we maybe have one."
Worldwide, human trafficking generates $32 billion a year, according to a United Nations agency called the International Labour Organization.
'Not for sale'
The message from the Green Bay Police Department was simple, following last year's sting that netted eight arrests.
"These operations are important because of the inherent health and public safety concerns caused by this behavior," the department wrote on Nixle, the public-messaging service it uses.
"The illicit sex trade historically has connections to human trafficking, drug dealing, sexual assault and robberies. The victims are not only those involved in all aspects of this lifestyle, but their families and the community."
Organizations large and small are heeding the call to help stamp out human trafficking in Wisconsin.
Last year, the state Legislature passed a law that strengthened penalties against traffickers. Earlier this year, an estimated 650 people attended an anti-trafficking conference, in Milwaukee, called "Not for Sale."
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/2015/06/06/huma"That person you thought was just a runaway or a delinquent," said U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger, who prosecutes federal child exploitations in Wisconsin. "That person might be a victim of trafficking."
On a smaller scale, forums and workshops have been held in the past few years at various locations around the state, including an event earlier this year at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Some of the women who attended the UWGB event then met in May, inside Heartland Church near the Howard-Suamico line, to discuss ways that they might assist the survivors of human trafficking.
n-trafficking-spreading-wisconsin/28573869/
Wisconsin
JesusBuiltMyHotRod ago
Just south of Green Bay on the HWY 151 corridor in Beaver Dam:
http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/local/article_d4e02cd7-cc0b-545c-8046-58bc4f0eb929.html
Wisconsin_Is_Corrupt ago
Their newest group which is meant to control the investigation and narrative, and to shelter those are really involved, is called The Fight to End Exploitation. This group is directly linked to the corrupt area churches, the mafia, and others involved in Pizzagate and Global Criminal Corruption. It is also linked with the Clinton Foundation, McCain Foundation, local corrupt foundations, local corrupt authorities, powerful PACs, Penn State University and even has ties to Blink 182 of all things.
They were planning to have Ashton Kutcher serve as a front man for some of the group's events until it was exposed, and now he is hiding in the bushes and afraid to be directly affiliated because they know the truth about Racine and what is being hidden. His real name is Chris Kutcher, he is a freemason and Kabbalah guru, and he is close friend of Clintons, Podestas, Emanuels, and McCain. This is all linked to the Pilgrims Society, Knights of Pythias, Knigths of Malta, and Council of 13 among other nefarious groups involved. Part of the reason why Racine is so important is because it serves as a playground for the elite nearby Chicago, and is the birthplace of initiatives such as United Nations Agenda 2030 (formerly Agenda 21), the Art in Embassies program, Sanctuary Cities, and Community Policing to name a few.
The entire state is run by the mafia, freemasons and other secret societies. Those involved have openly declared they "are immune to all laws" and "will destroy anyone's life both personally and professionallly if they ask questions about corruption".
The corrupt criminal mayor of Racine just resigned and is being rewarded with a position to control the Great Lakes water supply for his corporate handlers who are directly involved in Agenda 2030. Racine, Wisconsin is the real secret that the world needs to know.
fogdryer ago
There is something odd with I94 project
There sponsors are intertwined with police foundation and Racine foundation
Have to get my notes and return
Sorry so slow at this
Wisconsin_Is_Corrupt ago
All of the foundations in Racine are involved, and also tied to other foundations in Milwaukee, Chicago and globally such as the Clinton Foundation. They move money between the various foundations and use them to control other groups based on funding sources.
There is much more than something odd with the I-94 project. It was designed specifically as a cover to those involved in Pizzagate and Global Criminal Corruption.
Vox_Pacem ago
good job! Milwaukee has a prostitution problem, that's for sure. The places between Milwaukee and green bay though.. Most people probably have no idea.
Wasn't there a bust in that area recently with 12-14 people getting nabbed?
carmencita ago
If you know there is that problem ad people don't know, can you print some of those Cards and pass them out? Take someone with you. No one should do this on their own. It needs to be spread.
Vox_Pacem ago
I was looking into a place in Madison a while back. Why I knew about that bust.
9800086? ago
If you go to this website and type 'Green Bay' in search box some interesting articles can be read regarding Green Bay Pedophilia.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org
carmencita ago
GREEN BAY Keepers Murder Case:http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/01_02/2007_01_07_WBAY_VictimsOf.htm THIS is similar to the Keepers in that a Priest commits murder to quiet the ultimate crime against a child. Thank you for the tip on this advice. I had forgotten about this site. There are many many more.
9807627? ago
You are awesome @carmencia.
Good find.✋
If you go to the website and type
Ryan Erickson
In the search box.... Quite a few other articles are available.
Many MSN articles whitewash so be aware!
I'm thinking pedophilia, sexual perversion, child sacrifices, baby killing and eating may just have started things off in places like Wisc.
I know some wonderful honest non perverts in Wisc. So I must not and do not want to over generalize.
Thank you.
carmencita ago
Here is a better link. I could not get that one to copy correctly. http://www.startribune.com/oct-6-2005-second-erickson-suicide-note-released/11583936/ It is a heck of a story. He lied at the end and he probably did not think what he took from that teen was not his to take. He was a pedophile.
Dressage2 ago
Very true
carmencita ago
Holy Cow! You are on a Roll. I have crossed eyes. I am going to read all of them so keep them coming.
fogdryer ago
There should be more under vpizzagate