We noted that Veterans on Patrol, a local advocacy group in the Tucson region that seeks out homeless veterans in washes and desert areas, found a strange encampment and concluded that it was being utilized by sex traffickers to exploit children.
The group posted photos and video online featuring straps attached to trees that they claimed were “restraints” used to assault children sexually.
However, a follow-up investigation by writer and artist Jason Van Tat has not found any evidence to substantiate those claims.
“So much of alternative news outlets these days are guilty of really covering just one side of a story,” he said in a post at his website. “I myself have also been guilty of this and when I began writing again, I knew that I had to begin to try and get all sides to any story that I decided to write about.
“I was able to work a deal with someone that I had previously done work for. I would trade out taking video and photos of the incident in exchange for a plane ticket down and back to Tucson. I was able to fly down and spent 4 days in the 110,-degree borderland desert,” Van Tat continued.
One of the most daunting claims made by the veteran’s group was that an underground bunker discovered at the Tucson-area site was being used to house children who were actively being sexually abused. Van Tat noted that the bunker contained a few pillows, some milk crates attached to the walls, what looks to be part of a bookcase or desk, and a box of children’s cereal.
Another claim was that the group had found a tree with bindings made of fire hose, rope, and carabiner straps, along with several dolls including an antique of Snow White that came with several changes of clothing.
“There was hair dye, a broken knife blade with blood on it, and a couple of journals with some pretty bizarre writings,” Van Tat wrote, reciting claims that had been made by others. “However, in the end there was nothing that concretely demonstrated that there was any actual sexual trafficking of women and children.”
Child trafficking remains a big problem
Van Tat further noted that Veterans on Patrol members teamed up briefly with former Navy SEAL Craig “Sawman” Sawyer and his organization of former special forces operators, Veterans For Child Rescue, who are apparently filming a documentary called “Contraland,” where they hunt down migrant trafficker pedophiles. (Related: Watch: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson posts ‘Never-Before-Seen’ CRIME STATS for ILLEGAL aliens.)
Initially Sawyer was intrigued by what VOP founder Arthur Lewis had told him about the suspected child abuse camp. But within a day of arriving with some members of his group at the Tucson site, he released a video statement saying he was lied to about the suspected site by Lewis.
https://youtu.be/rAVuAvkE6bM
Sawyer said when he arrived three Tucson police officers were already on-site conducting an investigation. He noted they were the first to conclude no such evidence of child sex trafficking could be found.
In fact, he said, he obtained — and showed them in his video statement — nine Tucson PD reports involving the investigation into the suspected molestation camp.
Sawyer noted that much of what was initially claimed about the site was blown out of proportion, while other claims were false outright. Those false claims included one stating that condoms were found at the site and that children were found there as well. So, too, were claims of a shallow grave and the bloody knife blade.
“Listen folks, child trafficking is a real problem and it’s a big problem,” Sawyer said in the video. “Just because this site was sensationalized doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist. Blowing things out of proportion and exaggerating doesn’t help legitimate organizations nor law enforcement combat the problem or save our children.”
See more hoax-busting stories at Hoax.news.
J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.
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