Teh One Who Knocks
01-30-2012, 11:31 PM
Written by Jeffrey Wolf - 9 News Colorado
DENVER - The Colorado Attorney General's office says 14 people were indicted on Monday, accused of running a human trafficking ring that trafficked children for sex across the state.
According to Attorney General John Suthers' office, 22-year-old Patrick Lloyd McGowan, 20-year-old Chad Armand Gow, 20-year-old Roy Manuel Ibarra-Gonzales and 20-year-old Bryan Steven Burns oversaw the ring that involved not only the prostitution of children, but also sold methamphetamine and cocaine.
The 70-count indictment says McGowan, Gow, Ibarra-Gonzalez and Burns arranged "out calls" for their child victims through Internet, and coerced the children by giving them drugs and threatening them.
Investigators say the four men sent children to Denver, Boulder, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Lakewood for sex.
If convicted of trafficking children, which is the lead count in the indictment, the four could each face up to 24 years in prison and up to $1 million fines.
"Human trafficking and child prostitution are tragic crimes, from the devastating effects they have on their victims to the mere fact that the use and sale of persons persists in our world today," Suthers said in a news release. "This indictment underlines law enforcement's commitment to vigorously investigate and prosecute any and all cases of human trafficking we encounter."
The other 10 people named in the indictment are accused of either helping the trafficking ring or patronizing the operation.
This is the second case the Colorado Human Trafficking Task Force has prosecuted.
DENVER - The Colorado Attorney General's office says 14 people were indicted on Monday, accused of running a human trafficking ring that trafficked children for sex across the state.
According to Attorney General John Suthers' office, 22-year-old Patrick Lloyd McGowan, 20-year-old Chad Armand Gow, 20-year-old Roy Manuel Ibarra-Gonzales and 20-year-old Bryan Steven Burns oversaw the ring that involved not only the prostitution of children, but also sold methamphetamine and cocaine.
The 70-count indictment says McGowan, Gow, Ibarra-Gonzalez and Burns arranged "out calls" for their child victims through Internet, and coerced the children by giving them drugs and threatening them.
Investigators say the four men sent children to Denver, Boulder, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Lakewood for sex.
If convicted of trafficking children, which is the lead count in the indictment, the four could each face up to 24 years in prison and up to $1 million fines.
"Human trafficking and child prostitution are tragic crimes, from the devastating effects they have on their victims to the mere fact that the use and sale of persons persists in our world today," Suthers said in a news release. "This indictment underlines law enforcement's commitment to vigorously investigate and prosecute any and all cases of human trafficking we encounter."
The other 10 people named in the indictment are accused of either helping the trafficking ring or patronizing the operation.
This is the second case the Colorado Human Trafficking Task Force has prosecuted.