Want to know more about our SC human trafficking investigation? Join us for a live Q&A

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
David Weissman
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

An investigation by The Sun News recently revealed that a private investigator, hired on behalf of Horry County law enforcement and paid with taxpayer dollars, participated in sex acts with potential trafficking victims inside local massage parlors.

The story has generated a lot of interest, feedback and questions, so we want to provide an opportunity for you to get your questions answered — about this specific investigation or human trafficking investigations generally.

Join Sun News reporter David Weissman for a live virtual Q&A at noon on April 7, 2021 with a human trafficking expert and South Carolina state senator.

Register here to reserve your spot and submit your questions in advance. You can tune into the event here or visit The State or The Sun News Facebook pages to watch.

Jane Anderson is an attorney advisor for AEquitas, a nonprofit aimed at improving prosecution practices related to human trafficking, and has expertise in prosecuting human trafficking, domestic violence, stalking and sexual violence. Prior to joining AEquitas, she served as a prosecutor in Miami, Florida where she tried many of the state’s first human trafficking cases. In her role as a founding member of the Human Trafficking Unit, Anderson developed policies to better identify and provide necessary services to sex and labor trafficking victims, while ensuring offender accountability through the use of digital evidence, financial investigations, and creative charging decisions. She has served as a Human Trafficking Task Force Liaison and Field Coach for trafficking prosecutors. She has also developed several trafficking trainings, including a four-day training on combating human trafficking in commercial front brothels.

Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, who represents parts of Horry, Georgetown and Charleston counties, graduated with from the Charleston School of Law with his J.D. in 2010 and serves as a partner at Goldfinch Winslow LLC with practice areas focusing on civil, criminal, estate and probate litigation. He currently serves on the Senate Rules, Finance, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Fish, Game and Forestry committees.

Jane Anderson, attorney advisor for AEquitas
Jane Anderson, attorney advisor for AEquitas

Jane Anderson

AEquitas Attorney Advisor

State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch
State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch

Sen. Stephen Goldfinch

South Carolina State Senator

David Weissman
David Weissman

Moderated by David Weissman. Read his stories here.

Recommended Stories

  • Macron orders COVID-19 lockdown across all of France, closes schools

    President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday ordered France into its third national lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a third wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals. With the death toll nearing 100,000, intensive care units in the hardest-hit regions at breaking point and a slower-than-planned vaccine rollout, Macron was forced to abandon his goal of keeping the country open to protect the economy. Departing from his pledge to safeguard education from the pandemic, Macron said schools will close for three weeks after this weekend.

  • China Floats U.S. Military Lab as Possible COVID Origin Point, Urges WHO to Investigate

    China on Wednesday urged the World Health Organization to investigate whether COVID-19 first originated in a U.S. military laboratory after the agency’s director called for a deeper probe into whether the virus had escaped from a Chinese lab. A WHO-led team that visited China earlier this year to investigate the coronavirus pandemic’s origins said in a report on Tuesday that it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus had leaked from a Chinese laboratory and recommended no further exploration of that theory. However, just before the report’s release, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the team’s probe into the potential lab leak was not sufficient and that further investigation was needed. He said he was prepared to send more specialists to explore that possibility, according to the Wall Street Journal. On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to a question about Tedros’ comments by touting the team’s “important conclusion” that the lab leak theory was unlikely. “They have basically excluded the possibility of a lab incident” in Wuhan, she said. She also called on the agency to investigate early outbreaks in other countries and encouraged the WHO to investigate a U.S. military laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md. “As you know relevant study is already done in Wuhan labs, but when will Fort Detrick be open to those experts?” she asked. “If necessary, we hope the U.S. can be as open and candid as China.” For months Chinese officials have peddled the unfounded theory that the virus may have originated at Fort Detrick, which houses parts of the U.S. biological defense program and other medical research efforts led by the military, without offering any evidence. Hua would not say whether China would allow scientists to continue to investigate the labs in Wuhan or when it would start the second phase of studies outlined in the WHO-led team’s report. The WHO-led team was forced to rely on the word of the Chinese scientists participating in the investigation and were not given uninhibited access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where many public health experts believe the virus may have originated. The WHO report also contradicted U.S. intelligence claims about the safety protocols at the WIV. The report claims the lab was “well run” but State Department cables from 2018 reveal that diplomats who visited the facility had concerns that proper safety measures were not being observed. The report also suggests that no researchers at the lab came down with COVID but the State department announced in January that researchers reported flu-like symptoms in the fall, months before Chinese authorities acknowledged the COVID outbreak. WIV staff also deleted a genome database that contained information about which viruses were being studied at the lab. Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week that he believes the coronavirus originated inside a lab in Wuhan and “escaped,” and was potentially spreading as early as September 2019. “If I was to guess, this virus started transmitting somewhere in September, October in Wuhan,” the virologist told CNN in a clip that aired Friday. “That’s my own feelings. And only opinion. I’m allowed to have opinions now.” Redfield said he is “of the point of view that I still think the most likely aetiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, escaped.” “The other people don’t believe that,” said Redfield, who led the CDC under former President Donald Trump. “That’s fine. Science will eventually figure it out. It’s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker.” The WHO-led team’s report also notes that it is possible the pandemic began outside Wuhan, or China, as the team found little evidence of substantial spread in Wuhan before December 2019, while the virus had been found in individuals in Italy and Brazil in late November. However, scientists have said it is possible the virus was spreading undetected in Wuhan and the surrounding areas for weeks or months before gaining attention. “The current thinking is that we are still working with the start in and around Wuhan and working backwards on how it came here,” said Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO team. “It is perfectly possible you would have sporadic cases in and around Wuhan before December, November, even October 2019…That earlier move of the virus outside of the area could potentially be explained that way.”

  • Brexit has been a disaster for Britain as collapsing European trade puts UK firms out of business

    There has been a dramatic decline in the UK's trade with its European neighbours since Britain left EU trading rules at the end of 2020.

  • 17 details you probably missed in 'The Matrix'

    The legendary sci-fi film is 22 years old, but even avid fans probably haven't caught all of these hidden gems and background details.

  • 'Delighted' Queen makes first public appearance in nearly five months

    The Queen ventured beyond the walls of Windsor Castle today for her first public appearance in nearly five months, as she marked the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force. Her Majesty, 94, attended a short service at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey. Dressed in lime green, and wearing an Australian wattle brooch presented to her on her first tour of Australia in 1954, she said she was "delighted" to be out and about. On arrival at the memorial, which she opened in 1953, the Queen remarked on how long it had been since her last visit. She added: "You've got a good day for it. It's a very windy spot normally." The event began with a flypast by the Red Arrows, using only white smoke instead of the familiar red, white and blue as their smoke pods are in for maintenance. During the ceremony, a wreath was laid on behalf of the Queen by her new equerry, Major Thomas White, before the monarch viewed panels bearing the names of Australian war dead and met serving RAAF personnel. Speaking to one RAAF officer about working with Typhoon jets in Northumberland, the Queen asked if they were "being sent off to chase the Russians?" He replied: "That's correct Ma'am, it's a lot of fun for us."

  • Woman killed after shooting gun in Indonesia's police HQ

    A woman entered Indonesia's National Police Headquarters in Jakarta and fired a gun at several officers before being shot dead by police, in the latest militant attack in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, officials said. Authorities had earlier imposed a counterterrorism crackdown and were on heightened alert for possible attacks against police and places of worship following a suicide bombing during Palm Sunday Mass at a Roman Catholic cathedral on Sulawesi island which wounded at least 20 people. Television video on Wednesday showed a woman wearing a long black robe and a blue veil walking near a parking lot at the police headquarters toward the police chief’s office building.

  • Biden tells migrants to stay put. Central Americans hear a different message

    LA TÉCNICA, GUATEMALA (Reuters) - Maritza Hernández arrived at this remote Guatemalan village exhausted, with two young kids in tow and more than a thousand miles left to travel. "I heard news they are letting children in," said Hernández, explaining she planned to cross the U.S. border in Texas and seek asylum. The number of immigrant families apprehended by U.S. agents along the southern border nearly tripled in February from a month earlier to about 19,000 people.

  • THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'The Matrix' 22 years later

    Stars like Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss have been busy since the sci-fi film first aired, including working on the latest sequel set for 2021.

  • Cop resigns after video shows him slamming his K-9 into a patrol car, NC police say

    The Salisbury Police Department said the officer engaged in “inappropriate discipline” of K-9 Officer Zuul that violated department policy.

  • China reports COVID-19 outbreak on border with Myanmar

    At least nine people have tested positive for COVID-19 in a Chinese city on the border with Myanmar, health officials said Wednesday. Five are Chinese citizens are four are Myanmar nationals, the Yunnan Province Health Commission said in a report posted online. The city of Ruili, with a population of about 210,000 people, said all residents would be tested for COVID-19 and would have to home quarantine for one week.

  • Witness who tried to help George Floyd breaks down at Derek Chauvin trial

    A witness who saw Minneapolis police officers attempt to take George Floyd into custody broke down on the stand at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s trial Wednesday after prosecutors showed him bodycam footage of the encounter.

  • Imprisoned Palestinian leader's entry shakes up planned vote

    A popular Palestinian uprising leader imprisoned by Israel on Wednesday submitted an independent list of candidates to run in upcoming parliamentary elections, dealing a tough blow to President Mahmoud Abbas. The last-minute move by Marwan Barghouti could severely weaken the prospects of Abbas’ Fatah party and boost the prospects of the Islamic militant Hamas group. Nasser al-Kidwa, a supporter of Barghouti and candidate on the list, confirmed the filing just before a midnight deadline.

  • Matt Gaetz's claim that the DOJ's sex-trafficking probe into him is part of an extortion scheme doesn't add up

    Gaetz said someone contacted his father on March 16 to try to extort the family - but the DOJ's sex-trafficking investigation was well underway by then.

  • Database reveals secrets of China's loans to developing nations, says study

    The terms of China's loan deals with developing countries are unusually secretive and require borrowers to prioritise repayment of Chinese state-owned banks ahead of other creditors, a study of a cache of such contracts showed on Wednesday. The dataset - compiled over three years by AidData, a U.S. research lab at the College of William & Mary - comprises 100 Chinese loan contracts with 24 low- and middle-income countries, a number of which are struggling under mounting debt burdens amid the economic fallout from the COVID-10 pandemic. Much focus has turned to the role of China, which is the world's biggest creditor, accounting for 65% of official bilateral debt worth hundreds of billions of dollars across Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticizes Biden's $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan as 'not nearly enough'

    Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly planning to re-introduce her Green New Deal proposal, which would call for more far-reaching investments.

  • House investigators suggest former Trump advisor Peter Navarro steered coronavirus supply contracts to companies he favored

    After former President Donald Trump ignored his advice to ramp up the procurement of coronavirus supplies before the United States was overwhelmed by the pandemic, former White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro reportedly took it upon himself to get the job done. While some government officials, including Dr. Rick Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, have spoken admirably about how seriously Navarro took the pandemic, the House subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak is concerned by his process, The Washington Post reports. The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), alleges Navarro and other senior White House officials pursued "a haphazard and ineffective approach to procurement in which senior White House officials steered contracts to particular companies without adequate diligence or competition." One of those companies was Phlow, which was incorporated in January 2020 and had never manufactured drugs before. After a push from Navarro, BARDA awarded the firm with a $354 million contract, plus $458 million in options. A letter from the subcommittee explains Navarro was first introduced to Phlow's eventual CEO in November 2019, and the Post reports the company had "won Navarro's favor by making the argument that the United States was too dependent on Chinese manufacturing — a big concern" of his. House investigators reportedly also obtained documents which reveal retired Gen. Jack Keane, a Trump ally, touted the company AirBoss, for which he was a paid consultant, to Navarro on March 22. That led to an immediate conversation between Airboss' brass and White House officials, the Post reports. The next day, the company reportedly submitted a $96.4 million proposal, and Navarro's team reportedly pressured the Federal Emergency Management Agency to finalize an updated version of the contract within a week. Read more at The Washington Post. More stories from theweek.comDear Mr. Trump, America needs youThe turbulent ride of post-church AmericaDay 3 of Chauvin trial includes never-before-seen footage of George Floyd moments before his arrest

  • Jada Pinkett Smith says she was 'infatuated' with 2 women in her early 20s: 'I've swooned a lot'

    On the latest episode of "Red Table Talk" on Facebook Watch, the actress spoke about rare instances of being "infatuated with a woman."

  • Suspect in attack on Asian American woman in NYC is arrested

    A parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago was arrested on assault and hate crime charges in an attack on an Asian American woman in New York City, police said Wednesday. Police said Brandon Elliot, 38, is the man seen on surveillance video kicking and stomping the woman near Times Square on Monday. Elliot was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx in 2002, when he was 19.

  • Here’s what marijuana actually does to your body and brain

    As of Election Day 2020, 1 in 3 Americans live in a state where adults can legally buy cannabis. Here's what we know about the drug.

  • Dentists are seeing a rise in people with cracked teeth as COVID-19 stress drives us to clench our jaws

    A survey of 2,299 dentists across the US, by the American Dental Association, found a rise in clenching, grinding, chipped, and cracked teeth.