Bill targets involuntary servitude of Nevada children

CARSON CITY — A human rights lawyer testified Wednesday that as a teenager in Southern Nevada, he was turned into a virtual slave by a man he met in the Boy Scouts.

“He made me feel special,” said James L. Dold, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who grew up in Las Vegas. “He took me to the movies. I had a crush on the singer Jewel, and he took me to her concert at the Hard Rock. I thought I loved this person and was willing to do anything he asked.”

Dold broke down in testifying for Assembly Bill 146, a proposal that would create the crime of “involuntary servitude of a minor.”

Under the bill, people who obtain forced labor or services from minors, including sexual favors, would be subject to penalties as severe as life imprisonment. Children under 18 are not considered old enough to consent to perform labor or engage in prostitution. But 16 is the age of consent for sex in Nevada.

Dold testified about being subjected to sexual abuse as a child while having to do all the cooking, cleaning and housework for two years at the home of his abuser.

“Pimps engage in a grooming process,” Dold said during an Assembly Judiciary Committee meeting. “They look for broken families and children with no self-esteem and target their weaknesses.”

No action was taken during the hearing, but Judiciary Chairman Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, said he was sure one of the bills before the Legislature that target sexual traffickers and child abusers will pass. At least four bills are being considered. Frierson is co-sponsor of AB146.

During the hearing, Nevada Brothel Association lobbyist George Flint testified the problem with pimps and prostitutes would end if the Legislature legalized and regulated prostitution statewide. Legal prostitution is permitted only in rural counties, not in Clark County.

But Flint noted that Las Vegas cabs carry signs such as “Straight to your room” and telephone books are full of suggestive entertainer advertisements. He said people are led to believe prostitution is legal in Las Vegas.

“If it isn’t legal, it is tolerated,” he said.

No legislator responded to his suggestion.

Dold said that when he tried to file charges against his abuser, he learned the statute of limitations had expired. He credited his Valley High School wrestling coach with helping turn his life around.

“I didn’t have a free choice in the matter,” Dold said about his abuser. “I felt no one else in the world but the person who was exploiting me cared about me.”

Michon Martin, a deputy attorney general, expressed her support for the bill and called Dold’s experience “modern- day slavery.”

But Assemblyman Richard Carrillo, D-Las Vegas, wants to ensure language in the bill cannot be used to prosecute a parent who might have his children help out in the family’s restaurant.

Vanessa Spinazzola, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said her organization supports the idea but opposes the bill because it is vague.

Whether involuntary servitude charges should be filed against someone should be decided on a case-by-case basis, she said.

Others at the hearing said the bill should be limited to cases of forced labor and not include sexual acts as it does now. Other bills deal with increasing punishment for forcing children into prostitution, they said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.