On Sunday federal officials arrested a man from Hawaii and charged him with prostituting an underage girl in Miami Beach. Fred Quinton Collins brought the girl with him from Hawaii, booking her air travel under a false name, paying for her hotel, and directing the prostitution operation.
Collins was charged with transporting and causing a minor to engage in commercial sex acts, according to the U.S. attorney's office--aka child trafficking. If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in prison. You can read the Department of Justice report here.
If you want to know how human trafficking is a sad part of Super Bowl week, please read Joy Engdahl's blog, Binding the Broken. Joy was there all week as part of the coalition of anti-trafficking organizations.
She had some pretty horrific encounters--including seeing a number of underage girls on the streets. Her blog posts are very enlightening about the not-so-super-side of the Super Bowl, how organized crime is involved, and how some major corporations indirectly promote trafficking.
I'm sure we'll hear more results from the week-long outreach. Stay tuned.
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UPDATE (Feb. 11, 2010) Law enforcement officers in Miami arrested 84 people in a three-day Super Bowl sweep aimed at finding underage girls who have been forced into prostitution, according to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (@FreeAllSlaves).
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