The CSE Institute commends Brian Bowling, staff reporter for tribweb.com, for his careful, well-researched coverage of a recent sex trafficking case in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. As Bowling reports, Robert Middlebrook, from Clairton, Pennsylvania, is alleged to have “recruited four underage girls in Ohio, pimped them out in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, then used the money to buy heroin that he planned to sell…” (Click here for link to full story.)
Rather than simply reporting this news story in a sensationalist way, Bowling performed careful research and placed these events in the context of broader efforts to combat sex trafficking throughout Pennsylvania – including pending legislation that would better protect the human rights of child sex trafficking victims.
Bowling’s reporting was remarkable and praiseworthy in a number of respects. Instead of rehashing unreliable statistics regarding the prevalence of sex trafficking, Bowling quoted expert (and CSE Board of Advisors member), Prof. Mary Burke, who observed that as a “result of …underfunding…there are no good numbers on how many human traffickers or child sex traffickers are operating.”
Moreover, rather than focusing exclusively on the harrowing details of this particular case, Bowling placed the Middlebrook case in the context of a broader movement to more effectively address sex trafficking throughout Pennsylvania. Key to that movement, as Bowling highlights, “is the growing awareness by society and law enforcement that minors are victims, rather than criminals, when it comes to sex and other types of trafficking” (quoting Burke), and that “there are no ‘child prostitutes,’ just children who are victims of sex traffickers” (quoting U.S. Attorney for the Wester District of Pennsylvania, David Hickton).
Finally, Bowling connected his reporting of the Middlebrook case to an important piece of legislation pending in the Pennsylvania legislature – Senate Bill 851 – Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children (sponsored by CSE Institute Board of Advisor member, Sen. Stewart Greenleaf). As the CSE Institute has explained in our Policy Papers, the “full-immunity” Safe Harbor approach adopted in SB 851 is crucial to effectively addressing commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Pennsylvania. In reporting on this important issue, Bowling quoted CSE Institute Director, Shea Rhodes, who explained that the pending legislation “would have Pennsylvania join states that protect victims of child sex trafficking from prosecution for prostitution and related crimes, such as trespassing and loitering.”
Congratulations to Brian Bowling for his outstanding reporting on the important issue of commercial sexual exploitation