New Florida Trafficking Strike Team Tackles Border-Related Crime
New Florida Trafficking Strike Team Tackles Border-Related Crime
Florida is taking steps to address the many crimes happening at our southern border every day. This is an answer to our prayers!
(The Center Square) โ A new multi-agency human trafficking strike team has been created in Florida to target border-related crime. As the result of a recent months-long operation,ย 10ย victimsย were rescued, andย several alleged perpetrators were arrested.
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Attorney General Ashley Moodyย announcedย the creation of the new strike team with law enforcement leaders on Thursday.ย
โHuman trafficking is a challenge for every state,โ AG Moody said, โbecause, under this president, we haveย absolutelyย no enforcement at the southwest border. People areย โฆย giving monies to transnational criminal organizations to bring them straight into this country; then they find themselves at the mercy of the same organization.ย
โBecause we have ourย ownย government pushing as many people as they can into the interior,โ enforcing the law โfalls on the shoulders of these folks standing behind me to make sure that we are rescuing thoseย that areย being taken advantage of,โ she said.
Theย investigation began in October 2023 in Manatee County after the sheriffโs officeย acted onย a search warrant and turned over information to Homeland Security Investigations and the strike team, FDLE Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell said.ย
Investigators identified businesses that were commercial fronts for sex trafficking operations in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, where alleged ringleader Lina Payne recruited women from Columbia and allegedly held them hostage in Florida. She thenย allegedlyย forced them to have sex to pay off their debt to bring them into the country under threat of violence.ย
โWhat we found was a fully functional, highly organized international human trafficking operationโ based in Hillsborough and Manatee counties, Brutnell said. Payne was allegedly making frequent international trips to Latin American countries where the victims were living andย were later traffickedย through the border into Florida, he said.ย
The victims had no accessible modes of transportation,ย theirย identification documents were takenย from them,ย their food was deliveredย to them,ย theywere forcedย to live inside massage parlors, barber shopsย andย other businesses, where they could not leave, he said.ย ย
Payneโs alleged accomplices, her boyfriend, Sebastian Jurado, and her son, Andres Payne, were involved in recruiting women from Venezuela and Colombia who agreed to pay between $40,000 and $50,000ย to be smuggled across the southwest border into the U.S., according to the investigation. Lina Payne allegedly promised them legitimate work, but once they arrived, theyย were heldย hostage.ย
At one point during the investigation, it appeared Lina Payne was attempting to flee the country andย was arrestedย at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. Not soon after, her boyfriend and sonย were arrestedย in Tampa. Another alleged trafficker remains at large. Each defendant faces multiple felony charges and isย being prosecutedย by AG Moodyโs Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Through the course of the investigation, the strike team rescuedย 10ย victims. They also believe they identified more than 117 victims of Payneโs trafficking operation over years.ย
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said the victims โwere brought here to Florida and had no ideaย what hellย they wereย being broughtย into. Weโre talking about human lives. If someoneย wasย drowning, weโd go out and save them. These are people who are lost out at sea, in hell, living in captivity. We are going to rescue them.โ
While he said he was glad they caught the traffickers, he said, โthereย are a lot of evil people who pay to have forced sex, rape, with these women.โย
One way to break the cycle of sex trafficking was to enhance criminal penalties โagainst people who are buying and forcing sex on and raping women.โ Another is to create a civil penalty to enable victims โto easily sueโ their abusers, he said. โIf we take away the livelihoods of the people buying and forcing sex on victims, take their houses, cars, โฆ it will set a tone. Just like everything else we do in Florida, we will protect people.โ
AG Moody said, โBidenโs border crisis is emboldening transnational criminal organizations, and as a result, we are seeing horrific human trafficking cases right here in Florida. The disturbing facts of this case highlight the need for our new statewide Strikeย Team,ย and demonstrate how this expert team of investigators, prosecutors, analysts, and victimsโ advocates can help coordinate efforts to take down trafficking operations and rescue victims.โ
The new strike team is providing intelligence, guidance and support to law enforcement agencies statewide andย is alsoย coordinating emergency victim support services.ย The team works directly with Floridaโs new statewide human trafficking tip line, 855-FLA-SAFE.ย
Itโs currently assisting local law enforcement efforts with more than 20 human trafficking cases and making contact with nearly 40 victimsโincluding theย 10ย victims from this investigation, Moody said.ย
Also joining Moodyย in making the announcementย wereย Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, Hillsborough County Sheriffโs Office Colonel Chris Rule, Manatee County Sheriffโs Office Major Todd Shears and Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Special Agent in Charge John Condon.
For more on trafficking, check out our recent Pray with Americas Leaders webcast:
Share your prayers for this new strike team below.
This article was originally posted at The Center Square. Photo Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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Comments
Thank the Lord for this new Florida strike team! God bless team with momentum, strength and honesty ๐! Indeed, it’s all about Jesus!!!
Praise God there are states taking this seriously. I pray that God will cover these brave men and women as they continue to save innocent children and teens and women. I pray The Fl Governor gets more money to expand his mission. Thank you to the AG of Fl. We need brave men and women in Indiana to sweep this crime out of our state as well. In the name of Jesus.
the corrupt biden family has been trafficking childern and their mothers for years. joe himself is an active pedophile. his daughter Ashley reported thsi FACT in her diary which she carelessly lost and has been partially published. SO DEAR GOD
I ASK.FOR JUSTICE FOR AMERICA FOR JUSTICE FORTHE VICTIMS WHO ARE TRAFFICKED FOR SEX, LABOR AND BODY PARTS. A BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY AND THE RICH ARE THE MAIN CUSTOMERS. THEY CAN AFFORD IT AND THEY ARE SO SPIRITUALLY LOST THEY EMPLOY THEMSELVES TO SATAN DESIGNS. GOD IN HEAVEN WAKE THEM UP AND SAVE THEM TOO. ISOLATE SATAN AND HIS MINIONS , EXPOSE THEM SO ALLMAY FREELY CHOOSE WHOMTHEYโLL SERVE AND SPEND ETERNITY WITH.
Praise God for this team! Thank you, Father. I pray you would protect them and continue to use them to free women. Bless the people they find and set them on your course!
Father, I add a prayer for the repentance of the traffickers.
Praise the Lord. Many times when I seek a truck with unmarked details, I ask the Lord, if there are children in that truck being trafficked, please expose them, arrest them, and release the children.
May the severe punishment for the crime of raping ANYONE be instituted and widely publicized. And may our Father in heaven heal the horrid memories and shattered trust of all those (young boys and girls too!) who have been so abused.
We also pray for the protection of those busting these often very violent perpetrators. Lord have mercy on us and cleans our land of this wickedness!