Bloomsdale is small community in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, with less than 600 residents.  It is located about 20 miles south of St. Louis, near the Illinois border. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the region surrounding St. Louis, including Bloomsdale.  For example, in April 2013, a truck driver from the region  was charged with child sex trafficking for taking a minor girl for prostitution, and could face a mandatory life sentence because of his prior convictions for endangering the welfare of a child and sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old boy. A Kansas City grand jury returned a sealed indictment charging commercial sex trafficking of a child, enticement of a minor and transportation of a minor for prostitution. A second truck driver also was charged in the same case, facing counts of enticement for prostitution and transportation for prostitution.  A court motion asking that the key defendant be jailed pending trial alleged that he had “repeated sexual intercourse” with the victim and “injured her on multiple occasions,” and threatened the girl’s life to prevent her from speaking with authorities – specifically, pointing out rivers as he transported the minor victim across the country and tell her if she ever told law enforcement, he would dump her body in those rivers, and told the girl that no one would care about her death because she was a “black prostitute” court records alleged.