Law enforcement officials joined advocates from across the state to push for tougher laws against human sex trafficking at a hearing before the house judiciary committee on Thursday.
Arguing that Maryland lacks sufficient laws to prosecute cases where minors are forced into prostitution, officials testified for nearly two hours in favor of the bill that would outlaw “forced labor” and strengthen existing laws against selling children for sex.
“This is the most virulent form of organized crime,” said Terry Katz, a retired investigator for the Maryland State Police. “And it preys on the most vulnerable victims, often young women and girls.”
Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy testified that her office needed better tools to prosecute trafficking cases. “Pandering is only amisdemeanor in the state of Maryland,” she said. “Slavery was outlawed hundred of years ago, and in Maryland it?s not a crime.”
But Del. Joseph Vallario, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he thought there were not enough cases to justify tougher laws. “I?m in court all the time, and I don?t see that many cases of pimping,” he said.
Del. Luiz Simmons expressed concern that existing laws were being underutilized by prosecutors. “We don?t want to pander to the crime of the moment,” he said.
But Nadia Patterson, 19, of Baltimore, who said she was a victim of trafficking, testified the crime often goes unnoticed.
“It was a horrible situation for me, and very hard for young girls out there to let people know what?s going on,” she said. “We?re judged before people understand how bad it is.”
Montgomery County Police Sergeant Paul Liquorie said he recently investigated a case that shocked him. “A Montgomery high school honors student was coerced by a 46-year-old man into traveling to Virginia to perform sex acts,” he said.
Mary Nusser, president of the Bowie High School Parents Teachers Student Organization, said that when a Bowie High School football coach was convicted of pimping a student to a D.C. police officer, she was convinced tougher laws are needed.
“We searched our community and realized this is a much bigger problem than we realized,” she said. “It?s everyone?s dirty little secret.”
