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‘My Son Felt Extremely Violated’: Mom on Teen's TSA Pat-Down

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A mother said a pat-down given by a TSA agent to her teenage son at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport left her son feeling "extremely violated," wondering what he did to deserve that kind of treatment.

In an interview with NBC Nightly News in San Diego Tuesday, Jennifer Williamson said her 13-year-old son, Aaron, "left the area and was upset for quite some time.”

Williamson said her son was detained for more than an hour Sunday morning at the airport while being screened at the security line as the family traveled to San Diego. The mother captured video of her son’s pat-down on her cellphone, posting the video to Facebook as she expressed her outrage over the incident.

In her social media post, Williamson said she had asked TSA to screen her son in “other ways” because he has sensory processing disorder, a condition that can make one sensitive to stimuli like sounds, lights, touch and textures.

"I asked the agent if there was some type of way we could conduct it in a different manner than patting him down. I was then told that we could either be patted down or we could be escorted out by the DFW Police," Williamson told NBC Nightly News.

The video shows a TSA agent telling Aaron about the screening process before the pat-down begins. The teenager nods as he stands with his legs and arms extended to his side. The agent proceeds to thoroughly touch the teen’s body, moving his hands onto Aaron’s shoulders and armpits, then down his back several times, down the sides of his upper body.

The TSA agent then checks all the way around the teen’s waistband, down his legs and the back of his shorts before touching in between the teen’s thighs. Aaron looks straight ahead. The agent walks to the boy’s front and pats him down for a second time before completing the screening.

Williamson said the pat-down was “horrifying” and left her son feeling confused, as if he’d done something to warrant it. She called it "extremely excessive."

“We’ve dealt with questions for several days now asking why that happened, and what he did wrong,” she told NBC Nightly News.

Aaron told NBC Nightly News that the pat-down did not feel right to him, but all he could think about was going on vacation with his family.

"Whenever this officer was touching me in certain areas, I was taught that nobody should touch you in that area," the teenager said. "And whenever someone's touching you like that you would think, 'Oh, Who is this person and why are they doing this?' And for all that reason I didn't want to make a big scene, because my Mom got asked, 'Be escorted out with the police or go to San Diego...' And I really wanted to go to San Diego and I wanted to go to Disneyland and all of that stuff."

In trying to make sense of the incident, Williamson said she's watched the video again.

"I noticed very quickly that my son was pat down in private and sensitive areas repeatedly," she added. "They did not go over those areas one time, they went over them four times. They opened the back of his pants... They opened the front of his pants. They grabbed his arms on either side and grabbed his legs on either side. I don't know what they thought would've been under his skin, but I didn't think that was appropriate, and especially after I had told them that sensory issues were a challenge for him."

In response to the high-profile incident, the TSA released this statement:

“TSA allows for a pat-down of a teenage passenger, and in this case, all approved procedures were followed to resolve an alarm of the passenger's laptop.

"The video shows a male TSA officer explaining the procedure to the passenger, who fully cooperates. Afterward, the TSA officer was instructed by his supervisor, who was observing, to complete the final step of the screening process. 

"In total, the pat-down took approximately two minutes, and was observed by the mother and two police officers who were called to mitigate the concerns of the mother.

"The passengers were at the checkpoint for approximately 45 minutes, which included the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the mother and to screen three carry-on items that required further inspection.”

Williamson said Aaron “set off no alarms” prior to the pat-down, adding: “He physically did not alarm at all during the screening, he passed through the detector just fine.”

The mother said her family was “treated like dogs” and the incident caused them to miss their flight.

“These power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in,” she added.

She said as Aaron's mother, the screening was difficult to watch.

"As a mother I think any mother that saw their child being handled in that way would feel uncomfortable. I think most of the people that have read and commented and been commenting on this situation, that have children, or are involved with children, felt exactly the same way," Williamson said. "It seemed like a gross violation for a child to have to go through."

Williamson said she wants an apology from TSA and for the supervisor in this case to be reprimanded.



Photo Credit: NBC Nightly News
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Couple Frustrated Over New Refrigerator Not Working

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Bob Petralia holds up a large chunk of frozen ice from his new refrigerator.

“The ice is not supposed to be like that,” Petralia said.

The La Mesa homeowner had never had a refrigerator with an ice maker before and at first, he thought this was normal.

“The ice is all clumped together in one solid mass rather than being loose,” Petralia said.

The Whirlpool refrigerator was the last piece of the Petralia’s remodeling puzzle. At first, they loved the look and design of their new refrigerator but, they said months after they bought it from Lowe’s in Mission Valley, the problems started.

“It seemed like the temperature in the refrigerator would not hold properly, it would go down and shortly after that we started to have problems with the ice maker,” Petralia said.

The couple called Lowe’s and Laurie Petralia, Bob’s wife said the company was quick about sending a repairman.

“We became on a first name basis with our service guy because he was out here so many times, ten or eleven times,” Laurie Petralia said.

Humor turned to frustration though when another problem turned up: noise.

“That thing has been so noisy it’s almost like you had to turn on the TV to drown it out,” Bob Petralia said.

That was the final straw and the reason the couple turned to NBC 7 Responds, Bob Petralia said.

NBC 7 Responds reached out to Lowe’s and within days, a new refrigerator was on its way.

“It was astonishing how quickly things happened,” Laurie Petralia said.

In an email, Steve Salazar, a communications manager for Lowe’s said, “We apologize for the inconvenience Mr. Petralia had, and are pleased to have resolved his concerns to his satisfaction.”

Suspect Tries to Grab Laptop from Student Crossing Street

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Police are searching for a man who tried to snatch a laptop from the hands of a San Diego State University (SDSU) student crossing the street in the middle of the day. 

The attempted robbery happened at approximately 12:10 p.m. Tuesday on the 6000 block of Lindo Paseo, near a 7-Eleven and ARCO, just south of the campus. 

Police said the student was crossing the street when a man attempted to grab a laptop computer from her hands. 

The student resisted, and the man fled empty-handed. 

The suspect was last seen running on foot heading eastbound on Montezuma Road. He is described as 6 feet 3 inches, last seen wearing a black t-shirt and chocolate brown pants. He was unshaven.

The suspect may have been driving a blue BMV convertible with a black convertible top and no front license plate. 

Anyone with information or questions should contact the San Diego Police Department. You can remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers at 619-235-8477.



Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area, File

SeaWorld San Diego Slashes Prices on Limited-Time Tickets

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SeaWorld San Diego announced two new limited-time ticket offers Tuesday that could save visitors a pretty penny now through mid-June.

The marine amusement park unveiled a couple of value ticket options: a single-day, $55 ticket, valid on weekdays now through June 16, and a new “any-day” ticket, valid now through June 11, for $69.

The $55 weekday ticket costs $38 less than the regular price of single-day admission ($93). This ticket is valid only for visits Monday through Friday, and if purchased by March 25. The ticket must be purchased in advance either online or by calling (619) 222-4SEA; the offer is not available in person at the park. The $69 “any-day” ticket has a savings of $24 off the regular price. Again, this deal has to be purchased in advance – not at the park – by March 25.

One more offer is the $87 “Fun Card,” which offers unlimited admission to the park now through Dec. 30. Again, it must be purchased in advance, as the offer is not available at the park.

SeaWorld has seen attendance fall since the release of the highly controversial documentary, “Blackfish,” which criticized conditions of the park’s captive killer whales. The film focused on Tilikum, an orca that killed a SeaWorld trainer during a show in Orlando in 2010. Tilikum, who had been seriously ill, died this past January.

Days after Tilikum’s death, SeaWorld San Diego announced it would end its long-running, theatrical killer whale show, making way for a new orca show billed as a more educational experience into the lives of killer whales.

Earlier this month, SeaWorld San Diego launched its new “All Day Orca Play” program, which invites visitors to watch the killer whales interact with trainers and encourages visitors to ask questions.

The program will run for the next seven weeks, leading up to the park’s new show, “Orca Encounter,” where guests will see how orcas eat and communicate.



Photo Credit: Mike Aguilera/SeaWorld San Diego

Residential Highrise to Replace California Theatre

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A downtown San Diego landmark that’s gone to ruin is getting closer to new life in the 21st century.

The California Theatre, built in 1927, has been boarded up for more than a quarter-century, gathering graffiti and pigeons.

Civic boosters hope what’s in line to take its place – a 40-story, $125 million residential tower branded Overture -- will jump-start an economic and cultural rebirth in that part of town.

The crumbling theater stands on C Street, a trolley corridor infested with a lot of blight.

“It’s structurally no longer intact,” says Cyrus Sanandaji of Presidio Bay Ventures, who’s heading up the replacement effort. “Its integrity is completely compromised.”

Critics of certain urban settings in the city have dubbed C Street the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Much of the commercial space there is vacant, and the thoroughfare is a haven for the homeless.

The noise of passing trolleys and sight of transients napping on the sidewalks don't exactly add up to an attractive hustle-and-bustle.

State redevelopment incentives ended six years ago, and tax-credit approaches can be financially challenging.

The Overture is designed for 282 living units, a fitness center, lap pool, yoga rooms and seven parking levels – with a replication of the theater’s facades, sign and marquee.

"It'll be (built) with new materials; it won't be contaminated with lead or asbestos,” Sanandaji told NBC 7 in an interview. “It'll be modern in construction, and it'll be one-to-one identical to the original structure that was built -- and incorporated into our development."

Historic preservationists oppose Overture, which is expected to get City Council approval next week.

Bruce Coons, executive director of Save our History Organisation, calls the prospect of the theater’s demolition "a tremendous loss for San Diego".

He told NBC 7 that the group is considering legal action.

Overture’s backers, Sloan Capital and Presidio Bay Ventures, see the project as a catalyst for revitalizing C Street.

“We're hoping that the Overture, and it being the 'second act' of the California Theatre,” says Sanandaji, “will help to bring that life and that play and that entertainment back to 4th and C -- something that's been missing for decades."



Photo Credit: NBC 7

Petition: Melania Trump Must Move or Foot Security Bill

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A petition quickly amassing signatures online calls for members of the Senate to force first lady Melania Trump to move into the White House or pay for the security required to protect her in New York City.

The petition says U.S. taxpayers are paying an “exorbitant amount of money” to protect the first lady and her 11-year-old son Barron in Trump Tower and that funding should be cut.

By 10 p.m. Monday the petition on change.org had garnered just over 80,000 signatures of its 150,000 goal. If the goal is reached, the petition will be delivered to senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

A proposed letter to senators Sanders and Warren reads: “Make Melania Trump stay in the White House or pay for the expenses herself.”

The NYPD estimates that it costs $127,000 to $146,000 a day to protect the first lady and her 10-year-old son Barron when President Trump is not in the city, The New York Times reported. When the president is in the city, it costs about $308,000 a day. That’s about $50 million a year to protect Melania and Barron, according to the Times.

While President Donald Trump moved into the White House after he was inaugurated in January, his wife and youngest son have stayed in Manhattan. The president has said the two of them will move to Washington, D.C., with him when Barron finishes his school year. 



Photo Credit: EFE

Bull on Highway Causes Multi-Car Crash Near Martinez: CHP

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A black bull wandering around an East Bay highway Monday night was fatally struck by a car during a collision that triggered a six-car pileup, according to the California Highway Patrol.

One car slammed into the bull walking in the fast lane along the pitch-dark highway, CHP officier Nathan Johnson said. Five more cars behind the original collision proceeded to smash into the first vehicle. One of the cars overturned.

"It's just a bad deal for all of us," local rancher Nick Compaglia said. "We don't ever want this to happen."

Compaglia owns a number of nearby ranches, and he said the bull, which was most likely valued between $8,000 and $10,000, most likely slipped through a fence previously eroded by wet weather this winter.

"It scares us all to death when they get out on the freeway," he said.

The people involved in the crash suffered no more than minor injuries, according to Johnson. A distraught Compaglia was thankful that the situation didn't turn out any worse.

"All we're thankful for is that nobody got killed in this wreck," he said.

A Sig-alert was issued as all lanes were temporarily blocked on eastbound Highway 4, according to Johnson.

Earlier Monday, also in Contra Costa County, loose horses on a freeway brought traffic to a standstill during the morning commute on Interstate 680.



Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area

Mom 'Livid' After Son's 'Horrifying' Pat-Down at Dallas Airport

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A mother is "livid" after she said her young son was detained for more than an hour at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Sunday morning.

Jennifer Williamson posted a video on Facebook Sunday that shows her son, Aaron, being patted down by a TSA agent in the security line.

In the post, Williamson writes that she asked TSA agents to screen her son in "other ways" because he has Sensory Processing Disorder. Those who suffer from the condition can be overly sensitive to environmental stimuli, such as sounds, lights and textures.

The video shows the TSA agent patting Aaron down thoroughly along his back from his neck to his knees. The agent then pats down the front of Aaron's body, including the front of his shorts, his waistband and in between his thighs. The agent is then seen checking the boy's waistband again and patting down the front of his shorts for a second time. 

Williamson said that two DFW Airport police officers were also called in to pat down her son, "flanking him on each side."

"He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine," she said, adding that several hours later her son is still saying "I don't know what I did. What did I do?"

Williamson said her family was "treated like dogs" and that "these power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in."

She noted that the video only shows a portion of the interaction with TSA agents, and wished she had recorded it from the beginning "because it was horrifying." The incident also caused them to miss their flight.

The TSA released the following statement in response:

"TSA allows for a pat-down of a teenage passenger, and in this case, all approved procedures were followed to resolve an alarm of the passenger’s laptop.
"The video shows a male TSA officer explaining the procedure to the passenger, who fully cooperates. Afterward, the TSA officer was instructed by his supervisor, who was observing, to complete the final step of the screening process.
"In total, the pat-down took approximately two minutes, and was observed by the mother and two police officers who were called to mitigate the concerns of the mother.
"The passengers were at the checkpoint for approximately 45 minutes, which included the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the mother and to screen three carry-on items that required further inspection."

After a former Dallas radio host criticized D/FW Airport and TSA on Twitter, calling the pat down "pedophilia not security," the airport wrote: "@CarlaMarionNews @TSA We understand your concerns and we have notified @AskTSA. To file a formal complaint, visit: https://www.tsa.gov/contact/customer-service"



Photo Credit: Jennifer Williamson via Facebook
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DNC Asks All Staffers For Resignation Letters: Sources

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Democratic National Committee has requested the resignation letters of all current staffers be submitted by next month, according to multiple sources familiar with the party's internal working, NBC News reported.

Party staffs typically sees major turnover with a new boss, but the mass resignation letters will give new chairman Tom Perez a chance to completely remake the DNC's headquarters from scratch after staffing had already reached unusual low following a round of layoffs in December.

Immediately after Perez' election in late February, an adviser to outgoing DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile, Leah Daughtry, asked every employee to submit a letter of resignation dated April 15, several sources tell NBC News.

The DNC has declined to comment.



Photo Credit: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post/Getty Images

UCSD Grad Donates $75M to Alma Mater

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San Diego angel investor Taner Halicioglu is donating $75 million to his alma mater University of California, San Diego.

The cash, the biggest gift from a graduate in the university’s history, will be used to make the campus a national leader in data science. Halicioglu’s gift will establish the Halicioglu Institute for Data Science.

“Because data science is an extremely cross-disciplinary subject, it only seems fitting that something like an institute should exist in order to support it,” Halicioglu said in a post on Facebook Sunday. “While this Institute’s roots will be mainly with computer science, math, and cognitive science, its reaches will span across the campus.”

Halicioglu is perhaps best known in the community for being Facebook's first outside hire. He joined the social media giant in 2004 as a senior software/operations engineer. Today, he leads angel investor syndicate SEED San Diego while lecturing at UC San Diego.

His gift, announced Saturday at the university’s fundraising gala, comes as UC San Diego begins a $1.6 billion construction program that includes housing, classrooms, laboratories, and a student center.



Photo Credit: Erik Jepsen/UCSD
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Oceanside Man Gets Life in Prison for Wife's Murder

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An Oceanside man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for setting the fire that killed his wife.

Gertrude Hollis, 74, tried to crawl into a bathtub and turn on the water as a means of escaping a mobile home fire in February 2015.

Her husband, Andrew Hollis, set the fire in the couple's home at the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park on North River Road.

When Oceanside firefighters arrived, they found Gertrude Hollis in the back bathroom with the water running.

Outside the home, firefighters found Andrew suffering from smoke inhalation and serious burns to his face and upper body.

Officials told NBC 7 the next day that he had begged emergency crews to rescue his wife and stepson.

The stepson was found hours later unharmed.

Andrew Hollis was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife.

Daughter Vera Cunningham described her mother as the glue that held the family together.

She wore her mother's watch and scarf to the sentencing hearing. When Hollis spoke, he offered no remorse, she said.

“That he took our mother’s life the way that he did,” Cunningham said. “He had every opportunity to save our mom and he didn't.”

The Oceanside Fire and Police departments worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to solve the suspicious fire, which burned the home Andrew and Gertrude had lived in for more than 30 years, according to neighbors.



Photo Credit: NBC 7

19-Year-Old Arrested in 'Ambush-Style' Attack of 2 Miami Officers

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A 19-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday after police say he opened fire in an "ambush-style attack" on two undercover Miami-Dade detectives who were investigating gang activity, police said.

Damian Antwan Thompson is charged with two counts of attempted murder in the Monday night shooting, Miami-Dade police officials said Wednesday.

Detective Terence White, 47, and Detective Charles Woods, 37, were in an unmarked police vehicle on the city's north side investigating gang activity when, according to officials, at least four men "ambushed" the car just before 10 p.m. Monday and opened fire.

Police say Thompson fired multiple shots as he walked about the car, "aiming to kill" the detectives, according to an arrest report. At least one officer returned fire, Miami-Dade Police Maj. Hector Llevat said.

"They were ambushed in their vehicle, unprovoked," Llevat said.

White was shot in the foot and was being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Woods was treated for a gunshot wound in the arm at the same Miami hospital and released. The officers' unmarked car was riddled with dozens of bullet holes.

Several people were detained Tuesday in connection to the shooting near Northwest 62nd Street and 20th Avenue. Police say several Crime Stoppers tips led police to Thompson. The wounded officers also positively identified Thompson as the suspect, according to the report.

Thompson was arrested and booked into jail where he was being held without bond Wednesday morning. Attorney information wasn't immediately available.

An arrest report said Thompson was taken into custody in a room at the Hyatt Place Hotel on Northwest 42nd Avenue, along with three other people.

The other three people who were at the hotel — 25-year-old Jamal Daniels, 22-year-old Jessica Pierre and 22-year-old Mikequesha Simmons — are facing charges unrelated to the shooting.

NBC 6's cameras captured Thompson Tuesday when he was seen in blue hospital scrubs being placed into a police squad car. Thompson's mother spoke to NBC 6 about her son's arrest. 

"I'm not saying he's innnocent. I know he be out there with a crowd. But, they didn't have to beat him like they did, you know, because he's so little. At the same time, just hurts," Michele Thompson said.

The police report indicates when police officers found the 19-year-old in the hotel room, he refused to comply, charged at the officers and started fighting with them.

During questioning, Thompson said he knew one of the officers and an investigation revealed White had previously arrested the alleged shooter earlier this year, according to the arrest warrant.

Woods is an 11-year veteran of the department and White has been on the force for 26 years. The detectives were assigned to the Homicide Street Violence Task Force as part of a multiagency gang enforcement sweep in northwest Miami-Dade County.



Photo Credit: Miami-Dade Corrections, Miami-Dade Police
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Think You Know Where Trafficking Victims Work? Think Again

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Human trafficking hides in the shadows, and it can be difficult for bystanders to identify victims. But now Polaris, an organization that fights against trafficking in the United States, has created a guide to help.

With “The Typology of Modern Slavery,” Polaris is providing officials and activists with relevant information so they don't waste resources on misguided initiatives and instead focus on the kinds of trafficking most prevalent in their communities.

The new tool classifies human trafficking into 25 categories, based on data collected by Polaris between December 2007 and December 2016. A team of experts parsed 32,000 trafficking cases in search of trends so they could report on vulnerable populations and profile potential traffickers.

The study says that while many victims are sexually abused, on the global level labor trafficking seems more common than sexual exploitation. From agriculture to drug running to manufacturing, both legitimate and illicit industries take advantage of victims.

Some of the complicit industries may come as a surprise. Polaris has noted 108 trafficking cases in arts and entertainment, the majority of which involved U.S. and foreign models. There were also athletes and performers who were exploited by recruiters, executives and coaches.

The staff at carnivals can be trafficked, as can those who provide health-care assistance at nursing homes or through in-house services.

Polaris believes labor trafficking is more widespread than the numbers suggest. Victims of labor trafficking constitute only 16 percent of those included in the report, which is based on information collected by Polaris through phone calls, emails and other means of contact. The authors say this relatively small ratio is because labor victims don’t always know about the resources at their disposal, or if they qualify for help.

“Polaris strongly believes that labor trafficking cases in the U.S. are chronically underreported due to a lack of awareness about the issue and a lack of recognition of the significant vulnerability of workers in many U.S. labor sectors,” they write.

With 4,651 cases, victims who were forced to provide escort services comprise the largest group in Polaris’ typology. The study says that “the vast majority of the survivors of ‘escort services’ are U.S. citizen women and girls,” though “LGBTQ youth are also vulnerable.”

Escort services are distinct from outdoor solicitation, where victims are forced to sell themselves on street corners. Outdoor solicitation victims face more physical violence than others who experience sexual exploitation. According to Polaris, 50 percent of those forced into outdoor solicitation are minors. Again, members of the LGBTQ community are especially susceptible.

“Traffickers often exploit an LGBTQ person’s housing insecurity and need for family, threaten to ‘out’ them to loved ones, manipulate their self-worth, cause distrust of others, and withhold hormone therapy or other gender-expression necessities in order to control them,” the study finds.

Other forms of sexual exploitation include residential brothels where romantic partners or family members force a victim into having sex; cantinas, bars and strip clubs that require attractive employees to gratify customers who spend a lot on alcoholic drinks; families who sell young girls into sexual servitude to pay off a debt; and pornographic distribution without the consent of those filmed. Between 2007-2016, 61 percent of reported pornography victims were minors.

Traffickers also coerce victims into "remote interactive sexual acts" using webcams, texting and phones. 

While the majority of sex trafficking victims are women, industries that require hard labor target male populations. In agriculture and animal husbandry, 86 percent of reported victims were men, many of whom worked in tobacco fields that required extensive physical effort. Likewise, the vast majority of those trafficked in construction were male and came from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala.

Labor trafficking victims tend to be enticed by unfulfilled promises of education opportunities and benefits, according to the report. They are often offered temporary work visas without portability so that their financial futures and legal status are inextricably tied to their abusive jobs.

Others are undocumented and fear retribution if they seek out authorities.

It can be nearly impossible for victims to identify their traffickers, as the chain of command is too intricate and complicated within trafficking networks. 

At hotels, Jamaican, Filipino, and Indian victims clean guest rooms. At nail and hair salons, Vietnamese, Chinese, and South Koreans are surrounded by customers who could help them, but their traffickers have ensured they can’t speak English well enough to ask for an intervention. Men and women from around the world who are misled into disingenuous contracts and promised legal documentation fill jobs as lifeguards, food vendors, or camp counselors at recreation centers.

Of Polaris' trafficking cases, 575 were members of traveling sales crews.

“Unlike other types of labor trafficking, the victims in this category are overwhelmingly U.S. citizens,” according to the report.

Traffickers target vulnerable teenagers and young adults and pay victims $5 to $20 stipends a day. When someone threatens to leave the crew, they abandon him or her with nothing in an isolated location to dissuade others from following suit. 

“Although most crews claim to hire those who are at least 18, minors as young as 15 can be involved,” the study says.

The authors of the report say they hope it will advise officials on how to combat trafficking through education campaigns and collaboration.

“It allows stakeholders to begin to look more precisely at each category in order to take steps to prevent and eliminate distinct forms of exploitation,” they write.



Photo Credit: Denver Post via Getty Images

'Stunning' Drug Lab Scandal Could Overturn 23K Convictions

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About 23,000 people are expected to have low-level drug convictions wiped away next month, the culmination of an epic drug-lab scandal in Massachusetts, NBC News reported.

It comes five years after a rogue chemist admitted to tampering with evidence, forging test results and lying about it, resulting in 24,000 people with questionable convictions. Prosecutors fought to preserve the convictions, but a court ordered them to decide who they can realistically try to re-prosecute.

They are still working through the list, but their answer is expected to be "in the hundreds," a spokeswoman for one district attorney said this week.

"It's absolutely stunning. I have never seen anything like it," said Suzanne Bell, a professor at West Virginia University who serves on the National Commission of Forensic Science. "It's unbelievable to me that it could have even happened. And then when you look at the scope of the number of cases that may be dismissed or vacated, there are no words for it."



Photo Credit: AP, File

Photo of IHOP Server's Act of Kindness Goes Viral

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A waiter at an IHOP in Springfield, Illinois, is earning praise from thousands of strangers after a photo of him serving up an act of kindness earned national attention.

Keisha Dotson, 26, was eating at the restaurant on Saturday when she spotted her server sitting with a woman in a wheelchair, helping her eat.

“The lady was a couple of seats away from us. I’m not sure what her disability was, but she was coughing really loud,” Dotson told NBC News, adding, “The entire restaurant was dead quiet. The waiter cracked a joke about it, and it made her smile.”

“My mom noticed it. We watched. As he was feeding, I decided to snap the picture,” Dotson said. She posted the photo on IHOP’s Facebook page, where it was shared more than 4,000 times by Tuesday night. [[417378353, C]]

“My faith in humanity has been restored a little today,” she wrote in the post about what she called “a very touching moment.”

Dotson, an adult programs coordinator at a library in nearby Rochester, said she is a regular customer at the Springfield IHOP but this was the first time she had encountered the server, whose name is Joe Thomas.

Thomas told NBC affiliate WAND that he was raised to practice compassion, and was simply doing what he could for a regular customer.

“My mother and father always told me to treat everybody as equals, no matter what race, creed, color, whatever,” Thomas said. “Treat everybody equal.”

"I just love helping people," he added. "Every Saturday they'll come in and they don't even need menus or anything. I know exactly what they want." [[415397193, C]]

His co-workers praised his work ethic, with one saying “Joe has been doing it for a long time with these customers, and they are really great.”

“Ever since I started working here every weekend that couple comes in and he feeds her every single weekend,” said another.

Dotson, along with hundreds of people commenting on her photo, was in awe of the gesture.

“I’m completely blown away. I shared it because I worked in retail and in the service industry, no one takes the time to give positive feedback,” she explained.

“I wanted the company to know they have an amazing employee that is doing service to their patrons,” Dotson added.



Photo Credit: Keshia Dotson
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Sycuan Casino to Add 12-Story Hotel

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The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation announced plans to build a 12-story, 300-room hotel adjacent to its current casino on its reservation east of El Cajon.

The band held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its $226 million project on March 28.

Completion is expected by 2019.

The 500,000-square-foot expansion will include 60,000 square feet of new gaming space, able to accommodate 2,500 conventional slot machines, 300 bingo machines and 80 table games.

There will be multiple swimming pools including a “lazy river”-type pool that has proved popular at a neighboring resort.

Fifty of the new hotel’s rooms will be suites ranging from 376 to 1,150 square feet.

Sycuan owns hotel properties — including downtown’s U.S. Grant — but until now has not been able to provide a Las Vegas experience since the hotels are not adjacent to the casino. The band has long owned the Singing Hills resort property, but that is several miles away from the casino along twisting country roads.

Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez recounted the growth of the American Indian gaming business since the start of the Sycuan Bingo Palace in 1983. He spoke of political battles and of business as a way of self-reliance for his community.

Martinez said the Sycuan Band had wanted to move forward on the hotel in 2008, but had to shelve the plans until the economy improved.

“We are taking Sycuan to the next level,” he said as he displayed an artist’s rendering of the built-out site.

The ceremony opened with traditional Kumeyaay songs. Former San Diego Chargers center Nick Hardwick was master of ceremonies and San Diego Padres relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman was on hand for the ceremony. East County native and basketball player Bill Walton sent video greetings.



Photo Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Sycuan Casino
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Jury Learns New Details in Rat Bite Fever Case

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New details were revealed Wednesday in the case of a 10-year-old San Diego boy who died from rat bite fever after playing with a pet rat purchased from Petco.

Opening statements were presented in Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon's courtroom.

The case stems from the 2013 death of 10-year-old Aiden Pankey.

Pankey died just hours after he was rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pains.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office ruled the boy's cause of death was streptobacillus moniliformis, better known as rat bite fever.

His family had just bought the boy a pet rat from Petco, a San Diego-based company. The CDC later confirmed the rat was infected.

In opening statements, attorneys for the Pankey family questioned whether the pet could have been tested for rat bite fever, whether the right type of warning was issued by Petco at the time the pet was purchased and whether Petco knew of any other cases of rate bite fever connected to rats purchased at their stores.

In court, attorneys stated there had been two other cases of rat bite fever in San Diego County. In those cases, someone was infected after buying a rat from Petco, the attorney told jurors.

“[Petco] had knowledge that its customers, children, it was selling its pet rats to, were contracting rat bite fever from those rats and getting very, very sick,” said Bibianne Fell, attorney for the Pankey family.

Fell also said in her opening statement that in the months leading up to Aiden’s death, the supplier of Petco’s rats, Barney’s Pet Supply, had rats that were tested positive for rat bite fever.

Attorneys for Petco and Barney’s Pet Supply said testing every rat for the bacteria is nearly impossible, and no suppliers in the nation test every rat for rat bite fever.

“There are no suppliers of rats that can guarantee that they do not carry this bacteria,” Petco’s attorney Kimberly Oberrecht said, “it’s not the customary practice. No one can do it.”

Petco released a statement expressing their condolences to the Pankey family.

"The health and safety of people and pets is always a top priority," the statement reads. "We take the family's concerns very seriously."

The jury was also shown the pamphlet given to Pankey and his grandmother when the rat was purchased. A paragraph talks about rate bite fever but it does not indicate the bacteria can be spread by simply touching the rat.

Oberrecht, the attorney for Petco, said rat bite fever is very rare and very treatable with antibiotics.



Photo Credit: NBC 7

Free or Cheap Things to Do in San Diego

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You don't need to spend a fortune to have fun in this city.

Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Diego

Pot, Edibles Seized by Cops in Illegal Dispensary Bust

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Narcotics detectives served a search warrant Wednesday at a San Diego business accused of illegally operating as a marijuana dispensary, seizing pot and edibles during the bust.

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) acting Lt. Duane Malinowski said that at around 6 a.m., police searched a business called The Cure Lab located at 6070 Mount Alifan Dr., near Balboa Avenue.

During the search, detectives found about five pounds of marijuana inside the location, multiple types of edibles, concentrated cannabis and money. Two employees of The Cure Lab were arrested, police said, and issued misdemeanor citations for sales of marijuana and for illegally operating a marijuana dispensary business.

According to Malinowski, the SDPD Narcotics Unit and the San Diego County City Attorney’s office are currently in the process of investigating all illegal pot dispensaries operating in the City of San Diego. Their larger-scale investigation led them to obtain the search warrant for this particular business.

The investigation is ongoing; the SDPD said additional charges against others linked to illegal marijuana dispensaries may be forthcoming.

No further details were released.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

SDPD’s First Transgender Officer Opens Up About Transition

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San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Officer Christine Garcia worried that her gender transition from male to female would cost her a job she loved, and her wife and kids.

But she said she had no choice.

“I decided that I was going to transition," Garcia told NBC 7. "And no matter what happened in my life, I knew that after I transitioned, I would be happy. No matter what the cost was.”

Christine said she struggled with her gender identity most of her life, often going to school or work, and then coming home and dressing as a female.

She tried to fight her feminine urges, she said, by choosing masculine activities like wrestling in high school and joining the police force. She hoped it would rid her of her feminine side, but admitted that she would often return to dressing as a woman to bring her comfort.

Garcia said she went to therapy, hoping the doctor could help her lose her feminine tendencies.  But she ended up realizing who she was, and decided to transition from male to female.

After she made the announcement to the Police Chief and other officers in the department, she was overwhelmed by the positive response.

“I got a flood of emails back," Garcia said. "I would say hundreds, four to five hundred emails back from officers just telling me that ‘I support you’, ’ you're family’, ‘You're a good cop, that's all the matters.’”

Her wife was hesitant at first.

She has known about Garcia's need to dress as a woman since the beginning of their relationship. But days after Christine’s decision, her wife had comforting words for her.

“She told me, 'You know I fell in love with you as a person. And I've built this life with you and I can't imagine it anyway else. I can't imagine spending it with anybody else. you know, I wanna stay,’” said Garcia.

Garcia is SDPD's first Transgender police officer and the agency's transgender liaison.

Outside of work, she speaks to transgender people about her experience, attempting to give them hope and trying to prevent suicide. A 2014 UCLA School of Law study showed that 46 percent of transgender people aged 18 to 44 have tried to take their own life.

She asks others to be more accepting.

“Show some support for them," Garcia said. "Because it really helps them come out and thrive and be a contributing member of society.”



Photo Credit: NBC 7
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