Montgomery Community Media

The University of Maryland Support, Advocacy, Freedom and Empowerment (SAFE) Center for Human Trafficking Survivors, which aids survivors of human trafficking in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, was awarded $500,000 in federal funding. The SAFE Center operates in partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services to provide housing assistance to survivors […]

The Montgomery County Council held a public hearing Feb. 4 for the Bodyworks Establishments bill.  First introduced on Jan. 14, Bill 1-20 would require all bodyworks practitioners, like massage therapists and reflexologists, to be certified therapists or registered with the state. The licenses have to be renewed every year.  According to the agenda for the […]

A Germantown man is being held without bail facing 16 sex and human trafficking charges after a Montgomery County police investigation, court records say. Yixian Ma, 48, of Summer Sweet Circle, has a court date Jan. 2, the records say. Ma was seen delivering supplies and groceries to a Rockville apartment the police Vice and […]

The Jeffrey Epstein case is moving forward in New York, with lurid details that the wealthy financier paid young girls for massages before molesting them. What may surprise some, Montgomery County is a prime location for prostitution and sex trafficking because it is the crossroads of major interstates. Montgomery Talks asked Det. Sgt. David Papalia, […]

MCPD’s head of vice, Det. Sgt. David Papalia, talks about why Montgomery County is a prime location for prostitution and human trafficking — and what you can do to help — on this edition of Montgomery Talks with Doug Tallman.  

A 25-year-old Silver Spring man was sentenced to 12 years for two counts of sex trafficking, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore said Wednesday. Roland Chick Akum also faces five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender after he leaves prison, according to the sentence handed down Tuesday by U.S. District […]

Gov. Larry Hogan said he was creating an anti-human trafficking director position to coordinate services for victims across Maryland government departments. “The chilling reality is that Maryland’s central location and access to major highways and airports like I-95 and BWI make our state a hotbed for human trafficking,” Hogan said. He spoke before a large […]

Three people have been charged with human-trafficking and prostitution charges after an investigation that involved the Montgomery County police Vice and Intelligence Unit along with investigators from the Gaithersburg and Rockville City police departments. The three arrested were Hong Wang, 56, and Xiaoxia Lin, 42, both from the 12500 block of Laurel Grove Road in […]

Human trafficking is going on right here in Montgomery County. On this episode of Connecting Our Community, host Pat Shoemaker discusses human trafficking in Montgomery County with expert, Dr. Wendy Stickle. Dr. Stickle is the Director of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, Shady Grove. Dr. Wendy Stickle discusses things to look […]

Anqoinette Crosby hosts the latest episode of County Report This Week, which begins with the establishment of a permanent commission to combat human trafficking in the county, residents look back fifteen years to the D.C. sniper case, a suicide prevention and drug abuse campaign recently launched, and more. Watch the show in its entirety below: