The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "prostitution" ...
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The Secret Service Scandal
As President Obama was dressing to attend a formal gala of 430 world leaders in Cartagena, Colombia, last April, a story broke over a U.S. Secret Service agent not paying an agreed upon $800 fee for sex with a prostitute, leading to the dismissal of 11 secret service agents for their debauchery at Colombia’s Hotel Caribe. It was the largest scandal in the 147-year-old history of the Secret Service, exposing a pervasive macho culture of hard-working, hard-partying agents in an agency whose common image is one of stoned-faced, buttoned-down agents focused solely on protecting the President.
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Secret Service Strip Club: El Salvador
Seattle-based investigative reporter Chris Halsne tracks down a reluctant source in El Salvador to expose allegations that getting drunk, partying with strippers, and paying for sex with third-world prostitutes is part of the U.S. Secret Service culture. This investigative series is aired just weeks after agents were caught in Columbia with hookers – and just days after Homeland Security Director announced to Congress that Columbia was an isolated incident.
Tags: corruption; U.S. Secret Service; El Salvador; Seattle
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Off Track: Clandestine Racing in California
This story delved into an unknown world of illegal and clandestine horse racing happening on private tracks throughout the state of California. The straight-track races occur on properties throughout the state. KCRA uncovered a world where drug deals, prostitution, illegal gambling and animal cruelty are the norm. KCRA got the point of view of investigators and a veterinary scientist who found that horses were being dosed with mixtures of cocaine and methamphetamine. Added to this was the fact that few local law enforcement know it's happening and state investigators don't have the resources to stop the racing from happening.
Tags: Horse racing; drug deals; prostituion; gambling; animal abuse; veterinary science; cocaine; methamphetamine
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Weird Science: Women's Funding Network Sex Trafficking Study is Junk Science
The story examines a series of purportedly scientific studies conducted on behalf of an advocacy group that raises money to fight juvenile prostitution. A close look at the study reveals a dubious methodology that violates most of the key tenets of sociological research.
Tags: research; sociology; juvenile prostitution; advocacy group
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Trafficked
Youth Radio covered the issue of human trafficking into the sex trade, a problem prevalent in Oakland. Their coverage focused on the perspectives of the trafficked teenagers.The story "pieces together what life is like for girls who are kidnapped or ensnared by pimps -- and how law enforcement criminalizes juvenile victims, arresting them three times as often as the traffickers who exploit them."
Tags: prostitution; human trafficking; kidnapping; Youth and Family Services; Oakland, California; sex trade
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Sold On Craigslist
The popular classified website Craigslist was found to be selling underage prostitutes through it's adult services section. The website was not screening ads as promised to uncover trafficking and it was profiting from the sales.
Tags: Craigslist; underage prostitution; prostitution; human trafficking; adult services; classified; advertising; prostitute
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Judge Hecht
Newly elected Superior Court judge, Michael Hecht, was accused of picking up "male prostitutes" and of threatening to kill one of them to keep him quiet. Reporters found a number of witnesses and sources in downtown Tacoma who backed up the scandalous claims. They also found that the police were in the middle of a similar investigation. Hecht denies all charges.
Tags: Judge Michael Hecht; Pierce County; Judge Sergio Armijo; Tacoma
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"Running in the Shadows"
Ian Urbina investigates the issue of homeless youth. Since the economy has worsened, more teens are abandoning their often troubled homes to live on the street. Urbina also looks at how many homeless teens are forced to turn to prostitution as a means of survival.
Tags: homeless; youth; prostitution; group homes; teenage prostitution; runaways; sex trafficking
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Biggest Nonprofit Fraud of our Time
Sandy Frost uncovers a network of prostitution, human trafficking and child sex tourism in the secret Masonic subgroup, the Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ). Frost found that Jester groups paid for prostitution rooms and the society was linked to Richard Schair, a former fishing tour operator who brought North American into the Amazon for sex with minor, Indigenous girls.
Tags: Richard Schair; Royal Order of Jesters; Jesters; Mason; Sandy Frost; prostitution; child abuse; human trafficking; sex;
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Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
This fourteen-part investigative series revealed how a prostitution and human trafficking ring could flourish in rural Iowa towns. The series also details the story of one 13-year-old runaway Minnesota girl was entrapped in the ring and was forced into prostitution. A ring operator, who was being beaten by her live-in boyfriend, helped rescue the girl from prostitution and helped her make her way to safety. Law enforcement officials first missed opportunities to help this girl and break the ring. But they finally solved who was behind the ring and assisted in a dozen human trafficking convictions.
Tags: human trafficking; sex abuse; prostitution; kidnapping; court hearings; Iowa; sex workers