Author Gini Rifkin’s historical romance “Undercover Outlaw” takes place in 1888, but the pervasiveness of human trafficking moved her to include a hotline number.
human trafficking
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Denver’s new massage parlor ordinance adds investigative power to the city’s robust human trafficking units
When Aurora cracked down on massage businesses involved in human trafficking, the “bad apples” moved their operations across city lines into Denver. Now Colorado’s capital city — thanks to a massage parlor ordinance passed in July and one of the only district attorney’s offices and police departments in the state with dedicated human trafficking units […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News
A deputy’s knack for sussing out mules has made a lonely stretch of I-70 the top drug-bust site in Colorado
LOMA –– A patch of asphalt interrupts the median of Interstate 70 on an empty stretch of scrubby desert 10 miles east of the Utah border. It is a perfect spot for watching vehicles blow through on commutes, vacations, recreational outings, commercial load-hauling trips. And drug smuggling missions. For more than two decades, Mesa County […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
Construction workers exploited by Colorado’s underground economy want to add bite to wage theft law
In Colorado’s underground economy, where cash flows under the table and crews are lured by the promise of good wages and free housing, workers are getting ripped off. Especially construction workers who don’t speak English or aren’t living here legally. Union officials have uncovered allegations of wage theft from subcontracted workers who restored Colorado Mills […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
To catch sex traffickers and protect kids, Colorado is using a new screening tool statewide
It hardly matters whether the child’s been gone 24 hours or three months. When a teen in the foster care system runs away and is found, a 2017 state law requires caseworkers to screen them for sex trafficking. They had 151 of those conversations in the law’s first year. Here’s what they didn’t ask: “How […]