Three teenage girls were rescued by family members from a sex trafficking ring after they went missing from a sleepover in Connecticut, according to police.
The 14-year-old girls left the sleepover on May 1 with friends and ended up at a home in Hartford, where police said they were sexually assaulted by 19-year-old Donovan Dunn and four other men.
‘We can’t tell people how many of these cases start with grooming online.’
The girls were dropped off at another location and later ended up at a Super 8 motel, where they were allegedly sexually assaulted by two men, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said a 36-year-old man named Ahmad Compton later arrived at the motel and raped the girls. He told them he would get them business. That man took them to an apartment on Nelton Way.
The girls were given alcohol and drugs during the ordeal that lasted three days.
Families of the girls reported them missing and started canvassing the neighborhood looking for them.
A witness called them to tell them that he had seen one of the girls at the Nelton apartment, and the families were able to rescue them.
The girls were taken to the Connecticut Children’s hospital for evaluation.
Seven men were arrested for their alleged involvement in the sex trafficking of the underage girls. They were charged with numerous counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, and illegal sexual contact with a minor.
One of the girls is said to have called the incident a “joyride gone bad.”
“This is a difficult crime that not only impacted these young girls, but also their families and the community, and it’s a reminder that human trafficking does occur and it’s devastating when it does,” said Hartford State’s Attorney Sharmese Walcott.
Krystal Rich, executive director of the Connecticut Children’s Alliance, told WVIT-TV that families need to monitor carefully what their children are doing on social media and other online platforms.
“We can’t tell people how many of these cases start with grooming online,” Rich said. “It takes an entire community — be vigilant, come together, making sure you’re seeing the warning signs, reporting what you see, so that we can keep everyone safe.”
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14 year old girls go missing, Sleepover to trafficking, Child sex trafficking, Hartford connecticut crime, Crime
