By Deena Winter
Nebraska Watchdog
An FBI agent talked about Minneapolis teens lured to Omaha by promises of modeling, but instead forced into prostitution.
Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill has worked on human trafficking issues in Nebraska.
The Omaha police chief talked about how pimps force people into prostitution with jewelry, abuse, coercion and even promises of love.An attorney from the attorney general’s office talked about how he prosecuted an Omaha case where three juveniles were lured from a Minneapolis mall with promises of modeling, but instead were forced into prostitution.
And a family advocate talked about helping a Lincoln teenage girl who wanted to get in the music industry but ended up being pimped out on videos and online.
All of those examples – and more – were given to a Nebraska legislative panel today as lawmakers considered what more Nebraska could be doing to deal with human trafficking.
The first hurdle? Convincing people that indeed, human trafficking happens in Nebraska.
“People believe it’s not going on in the state,” Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes said. “It does go on in our city. … It is always kind of a constant thing that’s gone on.”
He said judges, prostitutes and others need to be educated about the issue in Nebraska. He said there are pimps who push people into prostitution through abuse, coercion, promises of love or jewels, but they often just get probation and a small fine.
“They’re back out in to society to do it again,” he said.
He said a lot of escort services and massage parlors deal in sex, and suggested the industry be regulated.
“It’s definitely out there,” he said.
Weysan Dun, special agent in the Omaha field office of the FBI, said in the past decade, “lone predators with limited reach” have grown to “global communities of pedophiles on the Internet.” He said the trafficking of juveniles for prostitution in Nebraska is likely more prevalent than empirical data indicates.
