Two Chicago residents, Geremy Glass and Markita Tidwell, were sentenced for their involvement in sex trafficking a minor. Glass received a 30-year prison sentence for sex trafficking a minor and for distributing child sexual abuse material, while Tidwell was sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiracy to sex traffic a minor.
In April 2022, Glass and Tidwell met the minor in Chicago and began trafficking her. Glass posted online advertisements, set prices, and communicated with potential commercial sex purchasers. Tidwell provided transportation and registered hotel rooms for the arranged sexual encounters. Both received a portion of the proceeds.
In mid-May 2022, they transported the minor to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she was forced to engage in up to 15 commercial sex encounters a day. When the victim attempted to stop or take breaks, Glass was physically violent, including dragging her out of the house and slamming her face into a car window. Glass also sent sexually explicit images of the victim more than 50 times to commercial sex purchasers.
The case came to light when hotel staff in Tuscaloosa reported a young woman who appeared to be abused. This led to the recovery of the minor victim and to the arrest of Glass and Tidwell. Glass pled guilty to one count of sex trafficking a minor by force, fraud, or coercion and one count of distribution of child pornography. Tidwell pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to sex traffic a minor.
This case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Justice Department in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-chicago-residents-sentenced-sex-trafficking-minor
Commentary
Project Safe Childhood is led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The project marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
The initiative combines law enforcement efforts, community action, and public awareness to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.
There are five essential components to Project Safe Childhood:
- Building partnerships
- Coordinating law enforcement
- Training PSC partners
- Public awareness
- Accountability
Since its launch, the number of cases and defendants prosecuted by United States Attorney's Offices has increased significantly. For example, in Fiscal Year 2009, there were 2,315 indictments against 2,427 defendants. The initiative also involves efforts to engage in public outreach and awareness to prevent children from being victimized in the first place.
In the above matter, hotel staff made the report to law enforcement of a minor who "appeared" abused. The staff did not know the full scope of the abuse, but the appearance was reasonable suspicion enough to report.
The final takeaway is that safe adults should always report their reasonable suspicions of abuse to law enforcement. When reports are made, sexual abuse and exploitation is more likely stopped and prevented.
