It's an alarmingly common global problem that even affects us here in Middle Tennessee. Human trafficking affects 85 percent of Tennessee's counties.
Read MoreThe Trap investigates how prisons and jails across the United States have become recruiting grounds for human traffickers, who are targeting incarcerated women and trafficking them out of correctional facilities and into pimp-controlled prostitution. More on this story - Revealed: how US sex traffickers recruit jailed women for prostitution, America's outcasts: the women trapped in a cruel cycle of exploitation
Read MoreNASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Nashville man has been convicted in the human trafficking of a 13-year-old girl.
Brittan Ezekiel Kettles, aka “Low Low,” 26, was convicted Thursday to federal charges of conspiracy to sex traffic a person under the age of 14 and sex trafficking a person under the age of 14. Another person, Stormy Whittemore also pleaded guilty in the case and is awaiting sentencing.
Read MoreThree new people are sitting in the Hamilton County Jail after investigators said they found the suspects were using a 15-year-old girl for commercial sex trafficking.
Read MoreRecent research suggests the face of homelessness is getting younger every year.
According to the National Network for Youth, in 2017, an estimated 20% of homeless people in America were under the age of 18.
Joyce Lavery, CEO of Nashville's Safe Haven Family Shelter said growing up homeless is the reality many kids are being born into. "They are saying the new face of homelessness is an infant," said Lavery.
Read MoreNASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
A woman serving a life sentence for murder could get a second chance after a clemency hearing Wednesday at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville.
Cyntoia Brown was 16 years old when she killed a man who picked her up for sex. She was convicted of first-degree murder in 2004 and given a life sentence for the crime.
Read MoreNASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three people are facing a slew of charges in a sex trafficking bust at a Nashville hotel.
Read MoreA man is behind bars, indicted for kidnapping a teen runaway, raping her, and forcing her to work as a prostitute. Melvin Howard Williams, 32, was indicted on felony charges of rape and two counts of trafficking for commercial sex acts. He also was indicted on a misdemeanor count of harboring a runaway.
Read MoreActress Allison Mack was arrested on Friday morning and charged with recruiting women into an empowerment group that functioned as a sex trafficking operation.
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