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Committee approves broader definitions to aid investigations of illicit massage businesses
Summary
The Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 62 to define "intimate parts" and "sexual contact" in ways sponsors say close a legal loophole used by illicit massage businesses; the committee removed a provision about touching through clothing and made the act effective immediately
The Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 62, which adds definitions of "intimate parts" and "sexual contact" to Wyoming criminal statutes to help law enforcement obtain predicate offenses in investigations of illicit massage businesses and alleged trafficking.
Cara Chambers, Director of the Division of Victim Services at the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, explained the bill’s definitional changes and said the measure came to the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force from law enforcement. "These are some very simple changes beginning on, page 1, line 13," Chambers told the committee, and she described how the proposed definitions mirror existing sexual-assault language while adjusting phrasing to avoid using the word "victim" in the statutory definition.
Terry Markham, executive director of Uprising, a Wyoming anti-trafficking nonprofit,…
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