A St James man is scheduled to face the Montego Bay Parish Court following his recent arrest and charge in relation to breaches of the Trafficking Persons Act and other offences.
A release from the Ministry of Justice stated that the accused, 34-year-old computer programmer Keron Lucien Watson also known ‘Shane’ of Providence Height, Flanker, St James was taken into custody last month, following an investigation by personnel assigned to the Ant-Trafficking in Persons Intellectual Property (aTIP-IP vice Squad).
It added that Watson’s arrest stemmed from a complaint by an 18-year-old female Jamaican student, whose name is being withheld in order to protect her identity.
“The complainant alleged that sometime in late January 2017, she was on a popular social media website when she received a friend request. The individual offered the opportunity for the complainant to become a member of a model agency,” the ministry explained.
The release went further to state that the young lady told investigators that she maintained contact with this individual and later accepted the offer and met a man then known only as “Shane”. The complainant said she was held against her will at the Flankers, St James residence of ‘Shane”, where she was forced to carry out lewd and sexual acts with various males, in exchange for money. The proceeds from the sexual transaction were then handed to “Shane”.
A TIP-IP (vice squad) investigators say the alleged sexual acts involving the complainant, and the men, were also taped, and images of the same acts also captured. The accused later released the videos and images on at least two popular social media websites.
On May 12 Watson was charged with three counts of human trafficking; facilitating trafficking in persons; and living on the earnings of prostitution.
In hailing news of Watson’s arrest, Chairman of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), Carol Palmer, said Jamaica continues its relentless fight against the crime of Human Trafficking.
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