More details regarding Florida sex trafficking case emerge

By NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 11, 2009

Related Links

    * Previous: 3 arrested in human trafficking case

At least one of the victims in a human-trafficking case investigated by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office was brought to an exotic dance club in Pinellas County, where she was forced to dance and perform sex acts, according to jail records.

The victim's name is not being printed due to the nature of the crime.

Corinna Daylene Shaffer, one of three suspects arrested Saturday in the case, drove the victim from Feb. 16 to 26 to the Vegas Showgirls Nightclub, 10570 Gandy Blvd., Shaffer's arrest affidavits say. There, the victim, under the fake name Lisa Leithead, was forced to dance and perform sex acts, the affidavits say.

Jail records say Shaffer, 24, works for Vegas Showgirls and goes by the name Lacy Dream. Attempts to elicit a comment from the club were unsuccessful today. A News Channel 8 crew was run off the property today, and calls to the club's attorney were not consummated or returned.

Shaffer took whatever money the victim earned at Vegas Showgirls and gave it to Kenyatta Cornelous, 38, the affidavits say. Cornelous was also arrested Saturday. Shaffer acted as the victim's handler, watching her continuously so she wouldn't try to escape, the affidavits say.

The victim was also raped during the 10 days in February, the affidavits say, and was told she would be killed if she told anyone.

Sheriff's investigators also arrested Edward Jones, 47. All three suspects list their address as 10214 Tarpon Drive, Treasure Island. Sheriff's detectives described it as a kind of prison for the women who were kept there and made to dance and have sex at clubs in the Tampa Bay area.

Trafficking victims try to remake lives

Trafficking victims try to remake lives

By MONICA RHOR Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press

April 12, 2009, 8:45AM

HOUSTON — Like dozens of other workers from Vietnam and China, Tiep Ngo had been lured to the Daewoosa clothing factory in American Samoa by hollow promises of good pay. She left behind her child, her husband and her parents and paid $5,000 for her job contract only to be starved, beaten and cheated of wages.

For nearly two years, Ngo labored in the stifling, overcrowded factory, subsisting on meager portions of rice and cabbage and longing for her family. Then, through the efforts of Good Samaritans, federal agents and churches, Ngo and about 300 other workers were rescued and brought to the U.S. mainland, some of the first immigrants to receive special T-visas allowing human trafficking victims to remain in this country and eventually become permanent residents.

Bedraggled, emaciated and frightened, they arrived hopeful that their harrowing tale would soon have a happy ending.

That was in 2001.

In the eight years since, the Daewoosa survivors have put down roots in Vietnamese enclaves like Houston, Seattle and Orange County, Calif., buying houses, building businesses and sending children to college. But they're stuck in a legal limbo, still waiting for their long-promised green cards and often mistakenly denied public assistance, college financial aid and other benefits.

Their story highlights the barriers and breakthroughs experienced by human trafficking victims struggling to remake their lives in this country.

They want to leave the past behind, but still wrestle with its ghosts. They dream of reuniting with their families, but can wait years for that to happen. They are eager to embrace life here, but often find that path blocked by a tangle of confusing immigration laws.

"This is the part that should be easier, and it's not," said Diana Velardo, an immigration lawyer at the University of Houston and chairwoman of the Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

continued...