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- Written by: Lake County News reports
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced on Tuesday that two bills that will help victims by making it more difficult for human traffickers to hide their assets have passed the legislature and have been sent to the governor’s desk.
Assembly Bill 2466, by Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley), ensures that criminal defendants involved in human trafficking will not dispose of assets that would otherwise be provided as restitution to victims.
Senate Bill 1133, by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), expands the list of assets that a human trafficker must forfeit and provides a formula for using those resources to help victims of human trafficking. Both bills passed unanimously with bipartisan support.
“Human trafficking is big business in California. It is a high profit criminal industry that is expanding rapidly across the globe, including here in California,” said Attorney General Harris. “This legislation will make sure those who perpetrate these crimes will not profit from them.”
Senate Bill 1133 ensures that those convicted of human trafficking crimes involving minors will not be able to keep the financial benefits reaped from their unlawful activity.
The bill expands the scope of property subject to forfeiture and provides a formula to redirect those resources to community groups that aid victims of human trafficking.
“Sex trafficking of minors is a horrendous crime that is driven by the prospect of lucrative profits,” said Senator Leno. “This legislation aims to deprive convicted criminals of the financial resources and assets that would allow them to continue luring young people into the sex trade. In turn, proceeds from those forfeitures would rightfully be used to help victims begin to repair their lives.”
Assembly Bill 2466 (Preservation of Assets for Victims of Human Trafficking), will help to ensure that more victims of human trafficking receive restitution. Under California law, victims are entitled to mandatory restitution; however there are no laws to help prevent human trafficking defendants from liquidating and hiding their assets before conviction.
Assembly Bill 2466 would allow a court to order the preservation of the assets and property by persons charged with human trafficking.
“Trafficking is slavery and we cannot have the perpetrators of this despicable crime gaming the system in California,” said Assemblymember Blumenfield. “We need all hands on deck to confront trafficking. By signing this bill, the governor can help reclaim justice for victims.”
Attorney General Harris is committed to the fight against this fast-growing crime that deprives persons of basic human rights. Harris co-sponsored the California Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005, which made human trafficking a felony in California.
Attorney General Harris also has served on the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force.
Human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion industry, the world’s third most profitable criminal enterprise behind drugs and arms trafficking.
Human trafficking involves the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying, or selling of a person for purposes of exploitation, prostitution, domestic servitude, sweatshop labor, migrant work, agricultural labor, peonage, bondage, or involuntary servitude.
While human trafficking often involves the smuggling of human beings across international borders, numerous Americans are trafficked around the United States ever year.
Human trafficking strips people, especially women and children, of their freedom and violates our nation’s promise that every person in the United States is guaranteed basic human rights.
For more information on the trafficking of human beings, go to www.oag.ca.gov/human-trafficking .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The body of a young soldier who was raised in Lake County returned to his family and community on Tuesday in the final leg of a sad and solemn homecoming.
Sgt. Richard Essex’s body was flown on Tuesday morning from the East Coast to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa.
There, family, close friends and an honor guard of members of the military, California Highway Patrol and Lakeport Police officers were gathered to escort him to Lake County.
Essex, 23, of Kelseyville was one of 11 people who died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash on Thursday, August 16, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Essex was serving in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He was the Black Hawk’s door gunner on its final mission.
As the hearse carrying Essex’s body headed north on Highway 101, the passing procession was saluted by community members, law enforcement and firefighters.
Originally, Essex’s procession had been scheduled to come over Highway 175 on the Hopland Grade. However, the size of the procession – along with the hearse there were numerous private vehicles as well as those of local law enforcement agencies and dozens of Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles – made it necessary to change routes.
Instead, the procession went on to Ukiah and then headed east on Highway 20, turning onto Highway 29 at Upper Lake.
While there was about an hour of delay in his arrival – originally the procession had been set to pass through Kelseyville at noon and Lakeport at 12:15 p.m. – community members stayed on the streets of Kelseyville and Lakeport, waiting for the chance to see him pass.
At his request, the procession went through his hometown, past Kelseyville High School, where he graduated in 2008.
Then it was on to Lakeport, where American flags had been set up by city workers all along Main Street. About 200 people lined the procession’s path in the block at Courthouse Square.
In the few breathless minutes that it took for the procession to pass, it seemed the only sound was the rumble of motorcycle engines and the vehicles following Essex’s hearse.
People of all ages lined the route, many of them holding American flags, watching the hearse pass without speaking. Some family members riding in the vehicles that followed the hearse waved to those who lined the route.
At Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, with the pathway bounded by flags and salutes, Essex’s casket was taken from the hearse by an honor guard, with family gathering for a private service.
Essex’s family has invited the community to a public memorial service that will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, on the football field at Kelseyville High School, 5480 Main St.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County has been paying tribute this month to a fallen local soldier, who was brought home on Tuesday.
Army Sgt. Richard Essex’s body was carried through Lake County in a dignified procession, as community members looked on.
He died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Thursday, August 16.
Here are the community’s thoughts, pictures and video, shared on social media.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The community is preparing to welcome home a fallen soldier on Tuesday.
The body of Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, of Kelseyville, is being flown to California on Tuesday, with a procession planned through the county early in the afternoon.
Essex was serving in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
He was the door gunner on a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Thursday, Aug. 16, as Lake County News has reported.
The cause of the crash – which claimed a total of 11 victims – remains under investigation.
The body of Essex and several of his fellow soldiers was returned to the United States on Sunday, Aug. 19, according to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Office.
The “dignified transfer” on Aug. 19 occurred at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
His body will be flown from the East Coast on Tuesday morning and then will be driven to Lake County.
Essex’s procession will move down Highway 29 and then to Merritt Road before turning onto Main Street in Kelseyville, where it’s expected to pass through at about noon.
It will pass Kelseyville High School – where Essex graduated in 2008 – before moving back onto Highway 29 and then to Lakeport, where it’s expected at about 12:15 p.m.
The procession will turn onto S. Main Street at the Highway 175 intersection before winding its way through Lakeport.
The California Highway Patrol will be on hand to help control traffic to allow the procession to move on and off the highway.
Community members are welcome to line Main Street in both Kelseyville and Lakeport for the procession.
A public memorial service for Essex will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, on the football field at Kelseyville High School, 5480 Main St.
A map of the anticipated procession route is shown below. It will be updated as more details become available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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