Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Human trafficking

Buyers walk free, survivors carry the scars: Colorado debates sentencing for child traffickers
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Buyers walk free, survivors carry the scars: Colorado debates sentencing for child traffickers

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers confronted a question this week that has lingered for years under the gold dome: how far should the state go in punishing those who buy and traffic children? Two bills offered two different answers. Senate Bill 26-015 cleared Senate Judiciary on a 6–1 vote and was referred, as amended, to Appropriations. Senator Nick Hinrichsen cast the lone “no.” HB26-1082 went the other direction. Representative Scott Bottoms’ bill would have required life without parole in certain cases involving trafficked minors. It stalled in the House Judiciary Committee. No one in the room disputed the harm. That wasn’t the fight. The debate centered on sentencing, and whether judges should still have ro...
Colorado Lawmakers Weigh Justice and Unintended Consequences in Child Sex Solicitation Bill
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Weigh Justice and Unintended Consequences in Child Sex Solicitation Bill

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Colorado is among the top ten states in the country for human trafficking and most of the victims here are children. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says 64% of human trafficking survivors are under age 18 and, under current state law, some of their abusers receive probation. A bill by state Sen.s Byron Pelton and Dylan Roberts would change that. Roberts says the current law is failing children. "How do we hold buyers of children accountable for their crimes?" he said. Under the legislation, anyone convicted of crimes related to child solicitation would be sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison. State analysts say each year, an average of 25 of those offenders receive probation. READ THE F...
Adams County Expands Fight Against Human Trafficking With Specialized Detectives
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Adams County Expands Fight Against Human Trafficking With Specialized Detectives

By Vicente Arenas | KDVR FOX31 COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KDVR) — The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says it has a new tool go after human traffickers and help save victims. The sheriff’s office has launched a new Human Trafficking Unit inside its Detective Division. That division will target prostitution, exploitation and human trafficking across unincorporated Adams County. Sheriff officials said the unit will bring focused enforcement, victim advocacy and interagency collaboration to combat exploitation, which includes both adults and children. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR FOX31
Bipartisan Colorado Bill Targets Tougher Prison Time for Child Trafficking Predators
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Bipartisan Colorado Bill Targets Tougher Prison Time for Child Trafficking Predators

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Colorado legislators on Monday announced a proposal to ramp up the penalties for human trafficking of children. The proposal, which received the backing of Democratic and Republican leaders in the House, will address one of the many problems when dealing with individuals who buy children for sexual exploitation — penalties so low that most offenders get probation, not real prison or jail time, according to the bill’s backers. At a news conference attended by dozens of law enforcement officials, district attorneys and victim advocates, 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason pointed out that Colorado is in the top 10 states for human trafficking. The measure goes after people who pay for kids for sexual gratification...
Five Trump Policy Moves Legacy Media Largely Ignored in 2025
The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Five Trump Policy Moves Legacy Media Largely Ignored in 2025

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell | The Daily Signal About 70% of Americans said they didn’t have “very much” or any trust that news outlets would fairly cover President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a YouGov poll. Media Research Center found that 92% of the major network media coverage of Trump during his first 100 days in office was negative. As Trump’s second administration nears its one year anniversary, here are five stories about the president’s achievements that you won’t find in legacy media coverage.By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell | The Daily Signal 1. Pardoning the FACE Act Prisoners On Jan. 23, Trump pardoned the 23 pro-lifers who were convicted for actions including praying outside abortion clinics and encouraging women in unp...
Feds Indict Two Suspected Tren de Aragua Leaders in Denver Racketeering Case
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Feds Indict Two Suspected Tren de Aragua Leaders in Denver Racketeering Case

By Nico Brambila | The Denver Gazette Denver and federal officials announced the indictment of two suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) leaders in Denver on Thursday for racketeering that included robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering and controlled substance abuse over a 14-month period in 2024. Indicted were Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano and Brawins Dominique Suarez Villegas, aka “Chino San Vicente.” Gang members have been linked to a myriad of criminal activities that include human trafficking — specifically immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering. According to U.S. authorities, members of the Venezuelan prison gang hid in plain sight by infiltrating immigrants headed north. But the gang’s brutal reputation — ma...
Colorado parents mobilize: New ballot efforts seek to strengthen safeguards for children
Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado parents mobilize: New ballot efforts seek to strengthen safeguards for children

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) The Government Shutdown in our nation is now over as of last Wednesday, November 12. Our military, TSA workers, air traffic controllers, and federal workers are beginning to receive their paychecks that were due last month. In Colorado, 33,707 federal workers have been on furlough since the shutdown began. That is an incredible amount of people affected in our state, likely due to the large size of our military population here. Additionally, Colorado’s election results have furthered the class warfare in our state by raising taxes on higher earners to pay for universal school breakfasts and lunches, which are given to every child, regardless of need. Proposition MM also funnels some extra ca...
Illegal migrant accused of raping child repeatedly had Obama-era entry, Biden-era protections
Approved, National, National Review, Rocky Mountain Voice

Illegal migrant accused of raping child repeatedly had Obama-era entry, Biden-era protections

By James Lynch | National Review Two illegal immigrants were arrested last week after being accused of repeatedly raping an unaccompanied migrant child who was illegally brought to the U.S. during the Obama administration. Felix Bustillo Diaz, 49, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, and Jose Gerber-Rivera, a 45-year-old Salvadoran illegal alien, are suspected of repeatedly raping Bustillo’s 12-year-old grand niece. The girl was smuggled into the U.S. by her Honduran mother in June 2014, according to federal authorities. The child’s mother was herself an unaccompanied minor at the time and brought the girl, then an infant, with her. The child was then left alone with Bustillo, a convicted criminal who ended up being her sponsor after he claimed to be her great uncle, marking a s...
Colorado man sentenced to 7 years for trafficking women across state lines
Fox31, Approved, State

Colorado man sentenced to 7 years for trafficking women across state lines

By Heather Willard | Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — A 41-year-old man will spend seven years in federal prison after he recruited two victims to work for him as prostitutes and transported them between states. Walter Conwell, 41, was sentenced on Aug. 21 to seven years in federal prison, followed by eight years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate transportation of an individual for prostitution. Neighbors shocked after man says he was stabbed while fishing at McKay Lake “Federal prison is the appropriate place for a man who somehow convinced himself it was okay to take everything from these young women and sell them for sex,” said United States Attorney Peter McNeilly in his office’s press release. “This case demonstrates our unwavering commitment to...
ICE stops trafficking ring run by illegal aliens, saves 10 children
The Daily Signal, Approved, National

ICE stops trafficking ring run by illegal aliens, saves 10 children

By Virginia Allen | The Daily Signal Immigration enforcement authorities rescued 27 human-trafficking victims in Nebraska last week. Among the victims Immigration and Customs Enforcement rescued were 10 children under the age of 12, according to the Department of Homeland Security.   “Our brave ICE law enforcement rescued these children and women, who were being sexually exploited and trafficked,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary.   The human-trafficking ring was being run by illegal aliens, according to the DHS.   President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “will not allow children and women to be victims of these heinous human-trafficking rings,” McLaughlin said. “Our message to human traffickers is cle...

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