Suspects Accused Of Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking Four Young Girls In Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A man and woman suspected of kidnapping four young girls were in court in Oakland Friday, facing human trafficking charges.
In court documents just released, 21-year-old Cedric Marquise Huseal and 22-year-old Brianna Miller are suspected of kidnapping four young girls and bringing them to a house on 65th Street in North Oakland.
The girls were forced to strip down to their underwear and wear mini-dresses to pose for pictures.
They were forced to work as prostitutes on San Pablo Avenue.
When they refused, they were pistol-whipped.
Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Teresa Drenick said her office sees this too often -- girls being sought as prey and being kidnapped as well as forced against their will to stay.
Drenick said, "Studies are now telling us that second only to the trading of narcotics is the lucrative nature of the [human] trading companies."
Amber, a 12-year-old girl from San Leandro, was taken to Las Vegas and forced to work as a prostitute.
At one point Amber had been rescued, but she escaped the safe house she was in and returned to the life she was saved from.
The trafficking victim's mother said "I am not embarrassed by my child being manipulated; I'm angry about it. So I need parents to get angry about it, too, and get this stopped."
The district attorney's office says the Bay Area is a "hotbed" for sex trafficking and that they're trying to educate people of the signs of it in order to stop this horrific problem.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said, "It's the largest criminal enterprise in the world. Billions of dollars. We estimate that across California, it's millions of dollars that are being made off of buying, or selling, or exploiting, human beings."
Brianna miller was arraigned Friday. Houseal, the other suspect will be in court on Monday.