29 charged with sex trafficking juveniles

Description

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

UPDATE Dec. 19, 2012
Judge overturns 3 lone convictions:
At the conclusion of a weeks-long trial in May, a federal jury in Nashville found three out of nine defendants guilty of charges stemming from a massive indictment on alleged sex-trafficking charges included up to 30 people.

But federal Judge William J. Haynes Jr. nullified the jury’s decision in part on Wednesday, issuing an order to acquit Idris Fahra, 25, Andrew Kayachith, 22, and Yassin Yusuf, 22, of the charges against them.

Haynes granted the defendants’ motions to acquit due to the government’s charge of a single conspiracy. Defense attorneys for Fahra, Kayachith and Yusuf successfully argued that the government’s indictment — which covered a decade of alleged illegal actions — constituted multiple conspiracies.

“It is necessary to show that each alleged member agreed to participate in what he knew to be a collective venture directed toward a common goal,” Haynes wrote in a memorandum, citing case law from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

Haynes’ memorandum also addressed concerns about the veracity of testimony from one of the alleged victims, Jane Doe 2. Before the trial, the government dropped all charges related to victim Jane Doe 1, which raised questions about Jane Doe 2.

The government originally argued that Jane Doe 2 had been a minor during the alleged sex trafficking. She testified at trial that her birth date was in 1996, according to court filings. Defense attorneys, however, found several pieces of evidence, including testimony from relatives, that stated Jane Doe 2 was actually born in 1990 or 1991.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office could appeal Haynes’ decision on the motions to the 6th Circuit Court. If the court rules in favor of the appeals, Yusuf, Kayachith and Fahra would then be entitled to new trials.

Several defendants who were severed from the main case and transferred to a separate one are still awaiting trial.

UPDATE January 28, 2012:

Somali women, their heads wrapped in colorful cloth, smiled and waved to their family members and friends as 28 handcuffed defendants entered the room. Some of the accused returned the greetings. A federal marshal quickly stepped into the crowd and reminded one of the women in the crowd that she can wave, but can’t communicate with the defendants.

She mouthed words to one of the men in jumpsuits when the marshal turned his back.

The interaction was surprisingly cordial considering the violent, socially deviant nature of the defendants’ alleged crimes. According to the federal indictment, the defendants all played a role in child sex trafficking. They are charged with transporting pre-teens and teens between three states and forcing them to engage in commercial sex acts.

The defendants are all associates or members of gangs like the Somali Mafia, the Somali Outlaws and the Lady Outlaws, according to the government.

“I would call this one of the more significant cases we’ve investigated in recent memory,” said John Morton, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, at the time of the indictment in November 2010.

Since then, the case has slowly inched its way toward trial. More than 1,200 motions, orders and other court proceedings have been filed in the past 15 months.

The defendants — and their counsel of 28 separate lawyers, mostly court-appointed — were in the courtroom on Jan. 20 for a proceeding to discuss several of the pressing issues facing the mega-trial.

One of the main concerns in pretrial chatter among the attorneys is regarding the location of the months-long trial. As of press time, the trial is pegged to start on March 20 at the federal courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., roughly 45 miles south of Nashville. Haynes, who is trying the case, said the courtroom setup in Columbia would be more conducive to the multi defendant trial.

Some people — including the marshals — involved in the case have griped about its placement in Columbia.

However, during the proceeding on Jan. 20, Haynes changed his tune. Due to a special courtroom configuration, he said it was “likely” that the case will be tried in Nashville. An audible sigh of relief came from the courtroom crowd of lawyers — who apparently weren’t looking forward to a 90-mile round trip on a daily basis for months. As of press time though, an official order moving the case to Nashville hadn’t been filed.

The location isn’t the only business that needs to be taken care of before the trial begins. Myriad legal, technical and logistical issues will also be decided over the next seven weeks.

Among the items discussed at the meeting Jan. 20:

• The court scheduled an exhibit review conference, so that the defense counsel and their defendants will be able to review the case and form a defense. The paperwork involved will cost the government $23,000 for copies for all of the defendants, according to U.S. attorney Van Vincent. Haynes denied a request by Vincent to disseminate the exhibit information electronically.

• The federal prosecution team asked about travel arrangements, requesting that the plea deadline be at least two weeks before the trial start so that they have time to book flights for witnesses.

• The attorneys compared schedules and approved a date for an evidentiary hearing for pretrial motions on March 2.

• One attorney motioned for a change of venue to court in Minnesota because that’s where most of the defendants are from. Haynes said he believes either district would be appropriate, but he has repeatedly denied those motions because the case already has too many proceedings.

Aside from administrative issues, there are also several pressing legal matters in the case. In a proceeding on Jan. 9, several lawyers expressed concern over how witnesses would be questioned.

Haynes suggested that the defense counsel get together and come up with a collective defense and questions to help expedite the trial, as long as there is no conflict of interest.

“To me, all the lawyers are well experienced, but it seems to me the synergism of having the benefit of all of that input as to what to ask a witness provides more effective assistance of counsel than if you relied just upon the ability or skills of an individual counsel,” Haynes said.

Haynes also argued collaboration could help attorneys who have only recently been assigned to the lengthy case.

The other main legal matter in the case is that none of the alleged Somali sex traffickers have pleaded guilty as of press time.

Former U.S. District Judge for Middle Tennessee Robert Echols, now a lawyer at Bass, Berry & Sims, has experience with large criminal cases — and said it will be unusual if the case goes to trial without any pleas.

“Sometimes the government will offer a deal. … If you testify XYZ, then they may give you a lighter sentence or some consideration in reducing the sentence,” Echols said. But he emphasized that there’s still a possibility of a guilty plea before the trial date.

Echols faced several multi-defendant drug and gang-related cases during his 18 years behind the gavel — and he has a hunch about how the government might approach the prosecution.

“The government’s process — I’m just looking from the outside, but I’ve looked through that tunnel a lot — is they oftentimes will nibble around the edges and look and see what people on the fringes know about the case. They usually look at those people to gather information about people in the center,” Echols said. “It’s kind of like building a spider web. … Oftentimes that will crash in, and you’ll see [a defendant] that really gets nervous [and pleads guilty].”

Echols said he would be surprised if the case proceeds on March 20 without any pleas, considering the stringent process the U.S. has to go through to indict suspects.

“The general rule is the government won’t indict them unless they can convict them,” Echols said. “The Department of Justice has pretty high standards, so it’s not just throwing a rock in the water.”

The large trial will also bring up challenges for the man behind the bench, according to Echols.

“It’s a complicated process, but you have to approach it steps at a time and make two steps at relatively the same time,” Echols said. “It’s a tough job for any judge to manage it and ensure that everyone is treated fairly and no one is discriminated against in any way.”

But one thing is for certain — the trial will begin on March 20 in Nashville or Columbia. And no matter how long it takes and how many motions are filed, 28 people are facing lengthy jail sentences.

As the defendants were led out of the courtroom on Jan. 20, a silence fell over the Somali community members who came to the hearing. One woman covered her face and wept openly.

“It is too sad,” a woman comforting her said. “Too sad.”

UPDATE:Feb. 28, 2012
Sex trafficking trial unusual in scope
As many as 23 will face jury simultaneously

Nearly two dozen defendants accused of participating in an interstate sex trafficking ring are scheduled to go before a federal jury next month in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest — and most unusual — trials in Middle Tennessee history.

In an era when limited resources and risk aversion have resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of cases that end in plea agreements rather than jury trials, not even one of the 30 defendants in the case has agreed to plead guilty, setting the stage for a massive trial in downtown Nashville that is raising a variety of issues both legal and logistical.

Twenty-nine people, mostly Somalis from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, were charged in November 2010 with running a prostitution ring that sold Somali girls as young as 12 years of age in cities including Nashville. A 30th defendant was indicted in May 2011. In addition to sex trafficking and conspiracy, the defendants also are accused of alleged crimes such as credit card fraud and burglary.

Seven defendants — including two who have not yet been apprehended — have been severed from the trial scheduled to begin March 20 and will be tried later. Even so, longtime prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said it is shaping up to be the largest number of defendants to go to trial at once in federal court in Nashville, if not U.S., history.

“I’ve been here in this office for 21 years now, and there’s never been that number of defendants go to trial simultaneously,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Van Vincent, the lead prosecutor on the case.

Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman with the Department of Justice in Washington, said she could not confirm or deny the claim because it “would require canvassing all 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and asking them for knowledge of every case ever prosecuted in their office.”

Observers are chalking up the lack of plea agreements in the case to a number of factors.
Why no plea deals?

“The Somalis have a cultural thing about testifying against each other,” said former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Ed Yarbrough, who agreed that the trial is on course to be the largest, in terms of the number of defendants, in Nashville history. “I think it’s cultural. That’s what I’ve been told.”

For a comparison to a more typical scenario, one can look at the case of 32 defendants charged with racketeering, murder and other crimes in connection with an alleged plot by the Bloods gang to take over the local drug trade. Federal prosecutors say the gang used Galaxy Star, an anti-gang nonprofit in East Nashville, as a meeting spot. The nonprofit has since closed.

The case will go to trial, for just two of the defendants, beginning today. Twenty-nine other defendants already have pleaded guilty. The final remains at large.

Speaking in general from his experience with federal prosecutions, Murfreesboro attorney Jerry Gonzalez said that, in conspiracy cases like this one, the government tries to indict enough people in hopes that “the lower rung will flip on the higher rung.”

“It is very unusual,” said Gonzalez, who represents Dahir Nor Abraham in the case. “I think it would be safe to say that the prosecution is disappointed no one has flipped yet.”

While the lack of plea agreements is surprising to some, Minneapolis Police Department Officer Jeanine Brudenell said it’s not unusual when dealing with Somali defendants. The Twin Cities are home to the largest Somali population in North America, and Brudenell is her department’s designated “East African community engagement officer.”

“There is a slim possibility that some people would take plea agreements, but it wouldn’t be until last minute,” Brudenell said. “Most of the time, they will probably go through the trial process.”

Having immigrated from a country with no functional government, many Somalis are accustomed to resolving problems within small communities, Brudenell said, and that mindset colors the way they approach the American justice system.

“Our system of government is very slow; they want a quicker process,” Brudenell said. “They certainly don’t have control of (the legal process), and it’s outside their system.

“They truly think they can come to the resolution they’re looking for through negotiations outside of the system. I think in the past, but not necessarily in federal prosecutions, there has been success with witness tampering. But law enforcement and the courts are much more aware of the potential for it now.”
Tampering alleged

There has been at least one alleged incident of witness tampering in the case proceeding toward trial in Nashville. Three Twin Cities women — Hawo Osman Ahmed, Ifrah Abdi Yassin and Hamdi Ahmed Mohamud — were charged in June in a five-count indictment that includes charges of “conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, victim or informant.”

The three women threatened a witness identified only by the initials “MA” and then attacked her in her Minnesota apartment building elevator, according to the charges.

Cultural reasons aside, Franklin attorney John Cauley also noted that many of the defendants are facing a minimum 15-year prison sentence if convicted, which reduces the incentive to negotiate with prosecutors. Cauley represents Abdifitah Jama Adan in the case.

Finally, noting their defendants’ presumed innocence before trial, many of the defense attorneys said there may be a far simpler reason none of the defendants reached plea agreements: They didn’t do it.

“They maintain their innocence,” said Nashville lawyer Patrick Frogge, who represents Haji Osman Salad in the case. “I think a lot of the defendants are looking forward to their day in court.”

That day is going to come a lot faster for the defendants in this case than it has in other local federal prosecutions featuring multiple defendants and complex conspiracy. The lack of plea negotiations is contributing to the fast pace of the case. So has U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr.’s steadfastness in rejecting any requests to continue the trial due to the difficulty of shuffling dozens of attorneys’ schedules. And at a recent hearing, all defendants in attendance said they would oppose any continuance.

Several individuals are probably not guilty,” Gonzalez said. “If you’re sitting in jail on pretrial detention, you can’t go to trial fast enough. They want to go to trial.”

The trial, expected to last months, will require modifications of Haynes’ courtroom to ensure there is enough space for the defendants and attorneys. The judge also has granted the defendants’ request to take breaks consistent with Muslim prayer times.

UPDATE: April 7, 2012

Alleged Somali gang members facing trial in sex trafficking case:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal trial involving more than a dozen defendants accused in a sex trafficking ring run by Somali gangs is being complicated by cultural issues within the Somali refugee communities in Tennessee and Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes again this week ordered jurors to return on Monday as defense attorneys argued that the defendants, many of whom are refugees from Somalia, were juveniles at the time the alleged crimes occurred.

The indictment said three gangs called the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws were forcing teenage girls into prostitution and operated in St. Paul, Minn.; Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville.

After selecting a jury last month, the trial was delayed last week when prosecutors turned over thousands of documents and audio recordings from the investigation to defense attorneys on the eve of trial. Both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors have repeatedly declined to comment about the case.

"It can be frustrating to have delays, but it is understandable because the case is so complex," said Derri Smith, executive director of End Slavery Tennessee, who will be an expert witness in the case. "I have the utmost confidence that the judge and jury will bring justice about in the case, but it's challenging for all of them."

The indictment, which was originally unsealed in 2010 and amended by a superseding indictment in 2011, says the defendants, many of them from the Somali immigrant communities in Minneapolis and Nashville, were members or associates of the three gangs. Four unidentified victims, some of who were under age 14, are listed in the indictment.

The indictment accuses the gangs of finding and recruiting young girls for the purpose of prostitution in exchange for money and drugs between 2000 and 2010.

Out of the 30 individuals listed in the indictment, only 14 are going to trial this month in Nashville on charges of conspiracy to commit sexual trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion and charges related to the sexual trafficking. Many of the individuals have remained in federal custody since their arrests in 2010.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Van Vincent declined to say why the government dropped some of the counts related to one of the victims shortly before the trial was scheduled to start. However, another victim, who is identified only as Jane Doe (hash) 2, is expected to testify in the trial that is expected to take at least two months.

Smith has been working with Jane Doe (hash) 2 in the case and said testifying against other Somalis will be very difficult for the victim, but she wants to have her voice heard.

"In the case of Jane Doe (hash) 2, she, as a minor, would typically be in a closed court, but she wants to have her story known and she wants to speak in public," Smith said.

Many, but not all the defendants, are described as refugees who came to the United States as young children. Police have relied on immigration paperwork to determine their ages, but defense attorneys have argued in court that information in those documents are routinely incorrect due to cultural and language issues.

One defendant, Abdirahman Abdirazak Hersi, has a date of birth listed in police records as Feb. 20, 1990, but his mother testified in court Wednesday that he had been born in Somalia on Dec. 1, 1991, and that her sister was incorrectly listed as his mother in immigration records.

His attorney has asked the judge to dismiss some of the charges against his client because he would have been a juvenile at the time of the offenses and he never had a juvenile status hearing that would determine whether he would face the charges as an adult.

Two other defendants are making similar arguments.

Courts in Minnesota, the state with the largest Somali population in the U.S., have seen similar issues in cases where defendants or victims are Somali.

There are no birth records in Somalia, and no government to keep such records even if they did exist. Meanwhile, birthdays aren't as significant to the Somali culture as they are to Americans, and aren't routinely celebrated.

Hashi Shafi, a Somali community leader in Minneapolis and head of Somali Action Alliance, said many Somalis know the year in which they were born, but not the month or date. Birth dates were assigned to many when they went to refugee camps and needed an exact date of birth so they could go to another country.

"You could have a whole family of 10, the father, the mom and all of the kids, and all of them born on Jan. 1, because they could not come up with the date exactly when they were born, but they know exactly the year," Shafi said.

Dan Scott, a former federal defender in Minnesota who has handled complex terrorism cases, said witnesses often worry about the ramifications of testifying, especially in immigrant communities that.

"When you are dealing with an insular community, especially whose native language is not English, people are going to worry about the ramifications of testifying in court against community members," Scott said. "The Somali community is a very insular community in Minnesota — everybody knows everybody.

UPDATE: May 4th, 2012

3 convicted, 6 acquitted in sex trafficking case

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee federal jury split its verdict Friday against nine people accused of operating a sex trafficking ring across three states run mostly by Somali refugee gang members, convicting three men and acquitting six.

The defendants are among 30 who were indicted in the case that spans from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee. The jury of six men and six women deliberated over five days this week before returning the verdict. The other defendants were severed from the trial and could face trial at a later date.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Van Vincent said the verdict shows that the jury found that sex trafficking did occur and the government won't cease prosecuting these cases.

"It's very important for victims to understand that you can come forward, people will listen and that people can believe what you have to say about the crime," Vincent said.

A Somali witness identified only as Jane Doe No. 2 testified that she was used as a prostitute by gang members starting at the age of 12. She cried in court as she described being taken to several apartments in around suburban Minneapolis to have sex with other Somali men for money, sometimes as little as $40.

Idris Ibrahim Fahra, Andrew Kayachith and Yassin Abdirahman Yusuf were found guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion. The three men were also charged with child sex trafficking and attempted child sex trafficking, but only Fahra was convicted on one additional count of child sex trafficking.

Fahra faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for the child sex trafficking conviction up to life in prison, and Kayachith and Yusuf face possible maximum sentences of up to life. No sentencing date has been set.

According to the prosecutors, Idris Fahra, who went by the nickname "Chi Town," had an apartment in St. Paul in 2006 that was used for trafficking of Jane Doe No. 2, who was in the 7th grade at the time, and he would also get to have sex with her for free because he was a member of the gang.

Jane Doe No. 2 also described being taken to Nashville in April 2009 for the purpose of sexual trafficking. Andrew Kayachith, who went by the nickname "AK," and Yassin Abdirahman Yusuf, who went by the nickname "Junior," were detained in Nashville by police along with Jane Doe No. 2.

Defense attorneys repeatedly questioned whether Jane Doe No. 2 was a juvenile at the time the sex acts occurred because prosecutors revealed on the eve of trial that her birth certificate was falsified. But Vincent said the jury determined she was under the age of 18.

Attorney David Komisar, attorney for Yusuf, said his client was disappointed by the verdict and he plans to fight the conviction.

"He maintains his innocence and we don't think that there was proof that Jane Doe No. 2 was underage in April of 2009," he said following the verdict.

Carol Owen, the attorney who represented Jane Doe No. 2 and her family, said the three individuals who were convicted were directly involved with the trafficking that Jane Doe No. 2 described on the stand.

Owen called her client courageous for taking the stand for five days to testify about very intimate details of the sexual acts in front of a courtroom full of Somalis and said Jane Doe No. 2's parents remain supportive of her. Defense attorneys had claimed she willingly had sex with multiple defendants and lied about it so her conservative Somali family could save face.

"She testified in order to tell the truth and bring justice to people who should be prosecuted," she said. "The justice system gave her her day."

Owen said Jane Doe No. 2 hopes to be an advocate for other sex trafficking victims and hopes that by taking the stand, other victims will come forward.

Six of the nine defendants are of Somali descent. Two others were natives of Ethiopia. Kayachith was born in the U.S. and is of Laotian descent.

- Local, state and federal law enforcement officers in Nashville, Tenn., Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., on Monday began arresting 29 individuals who were listed in a federal indictment which was unsealed listing various charges, including sex trafficking juveniles and conspiring to sex traffic juveniles, obstruction of justice, perjury, auto theft and credit card fraud. The 24-count indictment was announced at a press conference in Nashville by Jerry E. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, and John Morton, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Also appearing at the news conference were the following law enforcement leaders in this investigation: Sarah Beth Pulliam, Special Agent in Charge (SAC), U.S. Secret Service, Nashville Field Office; Amy Hess, SAC, FBI Memphis Field Office; Mark Gwyn, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI); Ken Reed, Assistant Chief, St. Paul Police Department; and Chief Steve Anderson of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.

The indictment results from an investigation that began in 2008 and alleges that the defendants are involved in or are associates of the following gangs which are connected to one another: the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia, and the Lady Outlaws.

"Human traffickers abuse innocent people, undermine our public safety, and often use their illicit proceeds to fund sophisticated criminal organizations," said ICE Director Morton. "ICE is committed to bringing these criminals to justice and rescuing their victims from a life in the shadows. We will continue to fight the battle to end human trafficking both here in the United States and around the globe."

"Trafficking children for sex is intolerable and the Department of Justice will aggressively enforce trafficking and other laws to eliminate these types of deplorable acts," said U.S. Attorney Martin. "As shown here today, law enforcement agencies at every level will come together to bring the full force of justice to bear on individuals who choose to profit by victimizing innocent children."

The indictment alleges that between 2000 and 2010, members and associates of the gangs transported underage Somali and African-American females from the Minneapolis area to Nashville for the purpose of having the females engage in sex acts for money and other items of value. The indictment alleges the defendants used some girls for sex trafficking who were 13 years old and younger. The indictment also alleges that an 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted. Sex trafficking offenses carry a penalty of not less than 15 years to life in prison.

The indictment further charges that members and associates of the gangs conspired to obstruct the investigation and committed perjury during the course of testimony before the federal grand jury investigating the case. The indictment also alleges that members and associates of these gangs stole a motor vehicle and used it to engage in credit card fraud, which amounted to a $231,000 loss to one credit card company in about a one-year period.

"Today's arrests demonstrate the importance of cooperation between state, local and federal law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of organized crime," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Hess. "Criminal organizations are not limited by physical boundaries or state lines. The crimes of human trafficking, especially for the sex trade, and identity theft reach across our nation and directly, sometimes permanently, impact the lives of victims and their families. The FBI will continue to focus on the disruption and dismantlement of these organizations and bring them to justice."

TBI Director Gwyn said, "This case is proof of how critical criminal intelligence support and analytical support is to an investigation. The information sharing and dedication by law enforcement agencies in this case is a testament to the lengths agencies will go to protect children."