Bowie residents fight sex trafficking

Task force formed after volunteer coach was charged with sexual abuse involving a Bowie High School student

Her surprise turned to outrage when she learned the 35-year-old coach, Arron Burroughs, was only charged with first-degree child sexual abuse in the District – where he allegedly drove the teen to have sex with a man.

‘‘Currently, there are no trafficking laws in Maryland. Nothing that even mirrors the federal statute,” said Renee Battle-Brooks, chief of the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit at the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Office. Human sex trafficking entails forcing a woman, child or man to perform commercial sexual activity.

Nusser decided to change the law and joined forces with fellow Bowie High School alumna Melissa Snow, deputy communications director of Shared Hope International, a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Va., that rescues ‘‘female victims of sex trafficking that have been forced into prostitution.”

The two women created in November the Bowie Human Trafficking Task Force, which consists of 10 city residents, religious leaders and parents of Bowie High School students seeking to make human trafficking a felony in Maryland and educate the community about human trafficking.

The group is supporting HB 876, legislation that would make sex trafficking a felony in Maryland punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. The legislation was sponsored by Del. Jane E. Lawton (D-Dist. 18) of Chevy Chase.

Snow, whose organization also monitors sex trafficking in the region, said the felony charge is desperately needed in the Bowie area.

‘‘The city of Bowie is a pipeline for the movement of human sex trafficking victims because it is between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore,” Snow said.

‘‘I-95 is used as a route to transfer and move girls around. Offenders do this because it makes the girls harder to identify. From our interviews with victims, we’ve learned that Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and on down to the more western cities like Las Vegas are all big hot spots for sex trafficking.”

The bill was presented March 15 before the House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee, and Nusser and Snow were there to speak in its favor, along with Patricia Coats Jessamy, the Baltimore City state’s attorney; law-enforcement officials from Prince George’s and Montgomery counties; and others affiliated with anti-human trafficking organizations.

Among those speaking before the Judiciary Committee was Shanea, a client of nonprofit organization You Are Not Alone, which provides services and support to sex-trafficking victims.

Her last name was not provided to shield her identity.

‘‘I was trafficked at the age of 16,” Shanea said. ‘‘Most of [sex trafficking victims’] problems start at home. A lot of us have been sexually assaulted. It’s really hard out there for a female because there are a lot of people that want to take you a long way from home. It’s just sad. A lot of people don’t see it, but there are some of us who go through it every day.”

Del. Gerron Levi (D-Dist. 23A) of Bowie, a member of the Judiciary Committee, supports the bill and said she previously met with the Bowie task force to discuss the legislation. The committee is expected to make a decision within the next two weeks. If the Judiciary Committee passes the proposal, it would then move to a vote in the state House of Delegates and state Senate.

‘‘If the bill comes to the Senate, I would be happy to speak in favor of it,” said state Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Dist. 23) of Bowie.

Peters said the bill does a good job of addressing sex trafficking in Maryland and that the penalty is much more appropriate.

If the Senate passes the bill, the final step would be for the governor to sign it into law.

Regardless of the legislation’s outcome, Snow and Nusser said they will continue to make residents aware of human trafficking and the signs to look for in the community.

‘‘It’s so important that we put a stop to this crime. It’s not an overseas problem anymore because it’s happening right here in Bowie,” Nusser said.

E-mail Wendy McConnell at wmcconnell@gazette.net.