Sex Trafficking Shutdown

Told by Lieutenant O’Donnell, New York Sheriff’s Office:

Our Sheriff’s Office Corrections Intelligence Unit was faced with a significant challenge, a huge surge in contraband entering our facilities. But this recent contraband bust didn’t only find drugs and cell phones. 

"This case has instantly made VIXN a go-to tool in our arsenal."

Lieutenant O'Donnell

We also recovered a stockpile of illicit photos of young women, suggesting a darker criminal operation behind the scenes.

We decided to put VIXN to the task. Our analyst imported all our Corrections data into VIXN, phone logs, financial deposits, and visitor records collected over the last year. He then ran the VIXN Connections Graph to surface all of the activities and interactions among inmates associated with the contraband. 

Within minutes connections between these inmates appeared and a central figure emerged: Alissa Brooks, known for her frequent visits to a key suspect and her involvement in suspicious financial transactions.

Digging deeper using VIXN, we uncovered an alias for Brooks. We had encountered her earlier in the year when she was booked on prostitution-related had prior charges. 

Using their search tools, our analyst retrieved the network connections for Brooks and her alias, leading to a significant breakthrough. Her network led us to her mother, and through her, we connected to a name that set off alarms: Matthew Palmer.

Palmer was already known to us, not as a minor player but as an incarcerated kingpin in a major sex trafficking ring, operated out of his own home. The discovery that he was Brooks’ stepfather was a pivotal moment in our investigation. This connection not only implicated Brooks in the contraband operations but also raised the very real possibility that she could be a victim of trafficking herself.

This case has instantly made VIXN a go-to tool in our arsenal. It’s now part of our daily intelligence processes and has allowed us to peel back the layers on some complex cases. We can now quickly reveal intricate webs of networks that were operating right under our noses and put a stop to these criminal activities.

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