By Erica Laster                                                                                                                   Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Last week, the Jamaican Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court denied bail to United States citizen Lynn Scantlebury, accused of trafficking various foreigners into the country and forcing them into prostitution.   On September 16, 2010, Scantlebury, 23, and her 41-year-old stepfather,  Anthony Parker, were arrested at the Latin Movement Night Club in Jamaica.

A total of thirteen people, several of them minors from Panama and the Dominican Republic, were detained by officials.  Scantlebury’s attorney argued for her release on bail, but was denied on the grounds that the defendant presented a flight risk.

Both Parker and Scantlebury face seven counts of facilitating human trafficking, seven counts of conspiracy, eight counts of human trafficking and one count each of money laundering and withholding travel documents.  It is further alleged that Parker and his wife, who has not been charged, played a major role in an international human trafficking ring.

In 2007, Jamaica passed the Trafficking in Persons Act, meant to prevent, suppress and punish all forms of trafficking related offenses, including those which involve the receipt of financial benefits and profits related to the trade.

Several wealthy businessmen from Jamaica have been under investigation in 2010 for criminal activities which include human trafficking.  Many are under scrutiny for their relationship with the reputed head of the Shower Posse, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, recently extradited to the United States.

This news should not be surprising given the country’s history of human trafficking.  One need only remember the caravan of Haitian children found aboard a bus en route to the border driven by a group of United States citizens claiming to be saving the parentless children in the wake of the earthquake.  It was later discovered that the children’s parents were in fact, alive and well.

For More Information Please Visit:

Jamaican Observer – American Woman Accused of Human Trafficking Denied Bail – 29 October 2010

Jamaican Observer – Family Accused of Trafficking Prostitutes – 4 October 2010

End Human Trafficking – Persons Accused of Human Trafficking Remanded – 7 October 2010

The Daily Herald – Two Accused of Human Trafficking Remanded – 5 October 2010