Missing teenager was victim of sex trafficking, investigators say
CHICAGO - A missing 14-year-old girl was found with a 37-year-old man who had been forcing her to have sex with strangers in exchange for money, investigators said.
Etheridge Nealy was found with the girl on Dec. 2 in a car on South Cottage Grove in Chicago's East Chatham neighborhood, Cook County Sheriff's Police said.
Investigators said that Nealy told them he had been renting motel rooms where the victim would be forced to prostitute herself. He said he drove her to the calls, investigators said.
The victim told investigators she had been forced to give all the money she made to Nealy.
Nealy faces charges that include felony trafficking of persons, felony promoting prostitution and felony involuntary servitude. He appeared in bond court Saturday, Dec. 5, and was given an $150,000 D bond.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated 255 allegations of human trafficking during the last fiscal year.
On Friday, Houston police revealed they had rescued two dozen people from a home where they were being kept prisoner in their underwear. They were called to the scene by a man who had been running down the street, nearly naked, saying he had been kidnapped.
In October, U.S. Marshals Service said 179 individuals were arrested by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force. A total of 109 human trafficking survivors were rescued in the operation, including 45 missing children.
In November, police in Florida announced the arrests of 178 people in a "large-scale" sex trafficking investigation, with charges including production of child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor.
In July 2019, the FBI rescued 82 minors and arrested 67 suspected sex traffickers in a nationwide operation targeting sex traffickers.
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