Officer sues over mental illness from child sex investigation

This is one topic that will be addressed after "Shriners' Shame" comes out; how to investigate sex crimes like human trafficking and child sex tourism without sounding like a pervert or ending up in therapy. Doing so has taken a toll on me to the point that I tried for about four months to write a final article about child sex tourism for the end of my book but could not. I can't explain the feeling as I slid down that slippery slope towards feelings of horror that evolved into rage as I read more and more about these crimes as I continued to further investigate the Shriners secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters.

The first time I really learned about child sex tourism was as I read what five Brazilian teenage girls told their federal police about being lured off their reservations to work as prostitutes for North American tourists. One stated she was left pregnant after one such trip. She was 13 at the time.

One day I got curious about documents associated with the Len Wah Chong case. She pleaded guilty to sex trafficking by force and coercion and is now sitting in federal prison for about six years after being caught in the same FBI human trafficking sting that also caught three Jesters taking her girls to weekend Jester parties across state lines and up into Canada. One of the documents was an FBI application for search and arrest warrants. It included evidence of wire tapped conversations she had with former Judge Ron Tills, one of those Jesters caught. He appeared to be helping her keep her "girls" enslaved so he could continue human trafficking.

I have tried my best to cover these stories, though I have hit the wall a time or two. I've walked through the house with tears of fury in my eyes after reading words that turned to images in my mind, things that most don't want to ever think about.

No wonder these types of stories are typically under reported. I hope to reach out to editors and reporters to let them know how these J-curve cases can be found in nearly every neighborhood and that there are easy to understand resources that can help turn a press release into great examples of explanatory and public service journalism.

Why?

These crimes are epidemic. Maybe they are the downside of the Internet.

Anyway, here is another example of the toll these crimes can take on investigators.

Sandy