Hidden in Plain Sight: The Fight Against Human Trafficking

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🛟 RESOURCES 🛟 Get Help!
National Trafficking Hotline (24-7) - [phone] or Text, "HELP" or "INFO" to "BeFree" (233733)
Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Exposure

📢 REPORT HUMAN TRAFFICKING 📢
[phone] | (800) CALL-FBI
Hotline
🚨 Emergency - Dial 9-11

🔗 LINKS 🔗
Texas Counter Trafficking Initiative (TxCTI) | Donations Link
Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative (TxCTI) Performs Investigations to Assist Families and Law Enforcement Agencies in the Location & Recovery of Juvenile Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - Blue Campaign
Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and how to appropriately respond to possible cases. TRAINING

Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) | The Sound of Freedom - Free Tickets 🎟
We exist to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

“Hidden in Plain Sight: The Fight Against Human Trafficking"

Guest – Stefano Aguilera, Counter-Trafficking Expert, TxCTI

Welcome to today’s case file, “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Fight Against Human Trafficking.” 

INTRODUCTION

Today, we're diving into a gripping story that goes beyond the realm of traditional criminal activities. You might have already caught wind of the film "Sound of Freedom," a powerful narrative that unravels the relentless fight against human trafficking. This film brings to life the journey of Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security Special Agent who, fueled by a burning desire to make a difference, established Operation Underground Railroad. Through this non-profit organization, Tim and his team are on a mission to take down the harrowing underworld of human trafficking. Their goal? To rescue victims ensnared in this heart-wrenching web and ensure that the perpetrators face justice. To date, they have rescued more than 6,000 and made more than 5,000 arrests.

Operation Underground Railroad, often referred to as OUR, is on the front lines of this battle, orchestrating covert operations to save those caught in the clutches of human trafficking. Their primary focus is on rescuing the most vulnerable of victims – children, who are tragically susceptible to exploitation. By collaborating with law enforcement agencies across borders, OUR aims to dismantle trafficking rings and liberate those who have been cruelly enslaved. This is no small feat; their work involves a blend of intricate investigations, shrewd intelligence gathering, and meticulously coordinated operations.

But this isn't just about crime – it's about confronting a staggering global issue. Human trafficking isn't just a statistic; it's a heart-wrenching reality that affects millions of lives and fattens the wallets of criminal organizations to the tune of 150 billion dollars annually. The concept of humans being reduced to commodities, subject to forced labor and sexual exploitation, is a chilling and deeply intricate problem with 25 million trafficking victims around the world today.

In the shadows of this darkness, it's crucial to spotlight the tireless efforts of organizations like Operation Underground Railroad and individuals like Tim Ballard. They are the unsung heroes combating the scourge of human trafficking day in and day out. Their dedication not only brings hope to survivors but also casts a piercing light on the urgency of this issue. So, join us as we delve into this true crime narrative that transcends the conventional, reminding us that the fight for justice comes in many forms. 

 

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human trafficking, also referred to as trafficking in persons or modern-day slavery, constitutes a grave offense involving the exploitation of individuals for compelled labor or sex. The diversity among trafficking victims defies any single categorization, transcending lines of race, color, nationality, religion, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, or citizenship. This reprehensible crime extends its reach to anyone below 18 engaged in commercial sex, even if seemingly consensual, employing means such as force, deceit, or coercion.

While the characteristics of human trafficking victims are diverse, perpetrators commonly target those who are vulnerable due to poverty, unsafe living conditions, or aspirations for a better life. In the United States, notably at-risk groups encompass American Indian/Alaska Native communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, undocumented immigrants, runaway and homeless youth, and low-income individuals. These victims are ensnared through deceitful promises, compelled to work under inhumane conditions for little or no compensation.

The spectrum of human trafficking perpetrators is equally varied. They can be foreign or U.S. citizens, acquaintances, family members, or even strangers. Dispelling the misconception that traffickers are solely male, cases reveal women can also be involved in this crime. Pimps, gang members, diplomats, business proprietors, labor intermediaries, and owners of farms, factories, and companies can all be perpetrators.

Victims are found across legal and illegal labor sectors, encompassing domains like child and elder care, the drug trade, massage parlors, hair salons, restaurants, hotels, factories, and farms. Some remain hidden within homes, trapped in domestic servitude, while others endure extreme circumstances in plain view—forced into exotic dance clubs, construction, health and beauty services, or eateries, persisting as a dire reality throughout the United States.

 

GUEST

Ladies and gentlemen, today we are joined by Stefano Aguilera, a distinguished expert in counter-trafficking from TxCTI, to shed light on the ongoing battle against human trafficking. Welcome, Stefano!

RECOGNIZING HUMAN TRAFFICKING(Joe)

 

Recognizing human trafficking is paramount in our collective efforts to combat this heinous crime. It involves remaining vigilant for signs that might otherwise go unnoticed—such as individuals exhibiting signs of physical or emotional distress, appearing fearful or controlled, lacking personal identification, or engaging in activities that seem incongruent with their age or circumstances. By cultivating an awareness of these red flags and understanding the diverse tactics traffickers employ, we can play an active role in identifying potential victims and intervening to offer them the assistance they urgently need.

 

(Joe)

Q: Crystal, tell us about some of the planning you were part of during the 2018 Super Bowl? 

In 2018, Minnesota witnessed an intricate year-long preparation for a SERE I event, representing the highest level of security concern just below a Presidential visit. The meticulous planning involved a collaborative effort among various agencies, encompassing law enforcement, medical personnel, logistics, airspace control, and more. These preparations were tailored to the specific event type, crowd size, and associated risk factors. Notably, major events like the Super Bowl often lead to exuberant festivities marked by partying and indulgence, which inadvertently creates an environment conducive to certain illicit activities. Recognizing this, the proactive approach included targeted training to spot instances of human trafficking across various sectors, including banking, law enforcement, medical establishments, transportation services, and hotels. As a result of these preparations, nearly 20 trafficking victims were successfully rescued during the period surrounding pre and post-event celebrations. This case underscores the significance of such integrated efforts in combating the hidden horrors that can emerge during large gatherings.

 

RESOURCES

 

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911.

 

Trafficked Men, Women, and Children: 

§  National Human Trafficking Hotline (24–7)

Phone:  [phone]

SMS:  Text, "Help" or “Info” to 233733

 

For human trafficking survivors, a multitude of resources spanning from essential banking services to legal assistance and counseling are available. We are committed to providing easy access to these invaluable resources. You can find a direct link to these comprehensive support services in the episode's show notes or simply navigate to our website's "Resources" tab for more information. Your journey to healing and recovery matters deeply to us.

 

REPORTING

For cases involving sex trafficking, the primary agency to contact is the FBI. To ensure a swift and accurate response, report any information to the FBI through the hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI. In situations of imminent danger or urgent assistance, please dial 911 immediately. Should you wish to share relevant information with us, we encourage you to do so via private message. For further information and comprehensive details, please refer to the provided website. Your engagement is essential in the fight against human trafficking.

 

JOINING THE FIGHT

Engaging in the battle against human trafficking encompasses diverse avenues, each making a meaningful impact. Whether you choose to volunteer your time, contribute resources, pursue a role within an organization like TxCTI, offer support, lend your voice as an advocate, or, perhaps most crucially, adhere to the principle of "if you see something, say something," akin to the military's OPSEC term – your involvement matters. Together, through these collective efforts, we can dismantle the shadows cast by human trafficking and create a safer world for all. We have included some of these in the show notes and they are also available on our website under the tab, Get Involved!

 

OUTRO

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our esteemed guest for dedicating valuable time to enlighten and empower our viewers and listeners in the ongoing battle against human trafficking. Your insights have undoubtedly contributed to our collective efforts, and we deeply appreciate your presence on our platform today.

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Creators & Guests

Host

Crystal Garcia

Host

Jose Medina

Guest

Stefano Aguilera

Counter-Trafficking Expert, TxCTI

What is Body of Crime?

Body of Crime is a true crime podcast for crime lovers. Join hosts, Crystal, Joe, and Alicia as they present cases and dissect each body of crime. Rather your love is to hear true crime stories, research, debate, and / or even attempt to solve some of the world’s most intriguing cases, we have you covered. Get ready to put your detective hats on and take some notes – you never know which mysteries will get messier with each case!

Welcome to today's case file Hidden in Plain Sight. The fight against human trafficking.

1 75 year old male, silver Hollow Road between Lane Road and. Welcome to Body of Crime, your go-to True Crime podcast where we plunge headfirst into the gripping world of criminal mysteries. Join your host, Jose Medina, crystal Garcia, and Alicia Anaya as we deliver the full stories immersing you in the heart of each case with spine chilling cases, in-depth analysis, captivating interviews, and a comprehensive examination of the evidence.

Embark on a thrilling journey with us as we explore bone chilling cases from around the globe. Whether you're a seasoned, true crime enthusiast or a fresh face in the genre, we guarantee to keep you on the edge of your seat. So put on your detective hat, grab your notepad, and get ready to dive into the thrilling world of body of crime.

Today we're diving into a gripping story that goes beyond the realm of traditional criminal activities. You might've already caught wind of the film Sound of Freedom, a powerful narrative that unravels the relentless fight against human trafficking. The film brings to light the journey of Tim Ballard, a former US Homeland Security special agent who fueled by a burning desire to make a difference established Operation Underground Railroad.

Through this nonprofit organization, Tim and his team are on a mission to take down the harrowing underworld of human human trafficking, their goal to rescue victims and snared in this heart-wrenching web and ensure that the perpetrators face justice. To date, they have rescued more than 6,000 and made more than 5,000 arrests.

Operation Underground Railroad, often referred to as R is on the front lines of the battle, orchestrating covert operations to save those caught in the clutches of human trafficking. Their primary focus is on rescuing the most vulnerable victims. Children who are tragically susceptible to exploitation by collaborating with law enforcement.

Agencies across the borders are aims to dismantle trafficking rings, and liberate those who have been cruelly enslaved. This is no small feat. Their work involves a blend of intricate investigations, shrewd intelligence gathering, and meticulously coordinated operations. But this isn't just about crime.

It's about confronting, staggering global issues. Human trafficking isn't just a statistic. It's a heart wrenching reality that affects millions of lives and fattens the wallets of criminal organizations to the tune of $150 billion annually. The concept of humans being reduced to commodities, subject to forced labor and sexual exploitation is a chilling and deeply intricate problem with 25 million trafficking victims around the world today.

In the shadows of this darkness, it's crucial to spotlight the tireless efforts of organizations like Operation Underground Railroad, and individuals like Tim Ballard. They're unsung heroes combating the scorge of human trafficking day in and day out. Their dedication not only brings hope to survivors, but also cast a piercing light on the urgency of this issue.

So join us as we delve into this true crime narrative that transcends the conventional, reminding us that the fight for justice comes in many forms.

Human trafficking also referred to as trafficking in persons or modern day slavery constitutes a grave offense involving the exploitation of individuals for compelled labor or sex. The diversity among trafficking victims defies any single categorization, transcending lines of race, color, nationality, religion, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, or citizenship.

This reprehensible crime extends reached to anyone below 18, engaged in commercial sex. Even if seemingly consensual employ means such as force deceit or coercion, while the characteristics of human trafficking victims are diverse perpetrators commonly target those who are vulnerable due to poverty, unsafe living conditions or aspirations for a better life in the United States.

Notable at-risk groups, encompas Pass, American Indian, Alaska Native communities, lgbtq plus individuals. People with disabilities, undocumented immigrants, runaway and homeless youth, and low income individuals. These victims are ensnared through deceitful promises, compelled to work under inhumane conditions for little or no compensation.

The spectrum of human trafficking perpetrators is equally varied. They can be foreign or US citizens, acquaintances, family members, or even strangers. Dispelling the misconception that traffickers are solely male. Cases reveal. Women can also be involved in this crime, pimps, gang members, diplomats, business proprietors, labor intermediaries, and owners of farms, factories, and companies can all be perpetrators.

Victims are found across legal and illegal labor sectors. Encompassing domains like, like child and elder care, the drug trade, massage parlors, hair salons, restaurants, hotels, factories, and farms. Some remain hidden within homes, trapped in domestic servitude, while others endure extreme circumstances in plain view, forced into exotic dance clubs, construction, health and beauty services, or eateries, persisting as a dire reality throughout the United States.

Today we are joined by Stefano Aguilera, a distinguished expert in counter trafficking from T X C T I, Texas Counter Trafficking Initiative performs investigations to assist families and law enforcement agencies in the location and recovery of juvenile victims and commercial sexual exploitation. Their mission is to counter the exploitation and subjugation of a vulnerable population and combat sex trafficking.

Welcome, Stefano. Thank you. We wanna start off, um, where we always start off and we just kind of wanna learn a little bit about you. So can you kind of give us an overview of your background? Sure. I grew up kind of really interested in kind of anything and everything. Techy 1415 and looking into what anonymous was and dark and what is it and all that fun stuff.

I wouldn't say I was a hacker by any means, kind of a wannabe script kitty at best, but it was always kind of just a passion. I never really wanted to make a job. I ended up gonna school for engineering with a minor in physics. That was my main focus. My goal was to be a mechanical engineer, kind following what my, my father as well.

But I ended up helping outta college through the financial and family reasons. Ended up pursuing a career in sales originally with a company that specializes in restoration. Kind of like ServPro, but more on the corporate side. And a lot of my job there revolved around open source intelligence and one of the guys that ran that entire division, The anti-terrorism task, Afghanistan, under General McChrystal.

And so his guidance and on the investigation side of things, kind of how to look people up and, and the entire process of intelligence kind of opened up a new world to me. So I realized that was one good at, and two I really enjoyed. So I went from there. And then my job currently is with an international detective agency.

I work as a global intelligence analyst. Uh, that is my day job. And on the free time I run my own business that's more related to software development, kind of in the, in the financial field, stocks and such. But all of my volunteer time is spent doing Texas C t I and I lead any and all technological efforts on the team.

That's awesome. That's really cool. What kind of motivated you to pursue working with TX C T I and combating human trafficking? What kind of drew you into that? I. That's kind of a long story. Um, I guess it began kind of when I was in college, uh, we had visit from the International Justice Ministry, ijm.

They had presentation on trafficking in Indonesia and India, child trafficking, sexual exploitation, trafficking, all that was very interesting to me. And there's only been a few times in my life where I felt in my gut that this is something I need to do. And every single time I've been right about that, one of those was when I met my now wife.

I said, that's, that's the woman. But I've only felt that feeling a couple times in my life and I.

Nonprofit here in the Houston area whose entire focus was on prevention knowledge and that sort of thing. That's what they share. And I joined them, did outreach. It was a religious group. And so at the time I thought that that was the best. Had a lot of volunteer positioning, so joined in with them. And then I had a couple situations where there was someone who made an outcry and she needed assistance on getting out.

And so when I approached the team leaders about that whole situation, they didn't really have, didn't know what to do. And that was my first experience with sort of the, the challenges and the bureaucracy and the red tape surrounding all of this. And I felt there was a need that needed to be filled. And so I didn't find any other group that was out there until I met an individual on that team who then kind of guided me and guidance and to work on private investigative, to learn investigations.

Kind of the physical side of. Did that for a few years and that's when I, where I met jb. JB and I have now been working together about seven years, and he decided to start his own venture here at Texas Htci and I, I joined him in it, and that's where we're at. That's really cool. Yeah. That's awesome. Have there been any cases that kind of hold a, like, particularly significant like personal significance for you?

To be honest, most of them, if not all of them. My, uh, my minds a bit of an trap. Worse,

I, but something stick a little than person I, without going into too many details just to protect the survivors. Uh, there's this one case that I worked that involved a four year old. The, the mother was involved in a lot of drug usage and such, and mental health issues, and overall it was just a really sad situation because from the looking in it.

Family would see them on church on Sundays. You would see them in the them shopping for groceries and wasn't from

turmoil going on, and it resulted in her wanting to four old online. There was a buyer, unfortunately and kind of situation

that.

Was very first one. This was when I was with that group and I had mentioned to them, I think my phrasing was, was exactly quote, I have a particular set of sketchy skills, as I mentioned. You know, I was of a cringe lawyer back then for a lot things. Didn't really know what into.

Uh, there was 15 year old from that was being trafficked and we had reason to believe via social media and such that there was a lot of evidence towards that. So along with the team, I kind of gathered the evidence through social media, put together using the tools, and I had from my previous work through that together and then forwarded to an F B I tip line.

Uh, they did eventually get back to me and basically just said thank you and left it at that. I never was able to see what happened with that case. I looked it up years later and every now and then I'll check and I still don't see very much of it. So yeah, hopefully that situation was resolved, if that's possible.

But I do think about that one a lot. And another one I think about a lot, and this will be the last one because I could go on for days on this. No, you're good. We had one that involved a, a government official, uh, um, and I won't go where, who, what, or went for, for obvious reasons, but that one I think was the most frustrating and heartbreaking just because it was official that was kind of.

In position of power such that they were helping the abuse instead became the abuser. Really sad situation. Just overall, I think about that one a lot. Someone occasionally tab on, keep all files and we'll occasionally search the make sure they're doing. There have been a few unfortunately where I do make that Google search and they're found dead or whatnot, and it's, it's a little difficult, but I I, I do keep track of them.

It's definitely an honorable venture that you're on. You talked a little bit about the bureaucracy and the red tape that's associated with really law enforcement and, and even if the F B I, a lot of times they're constrained based off laws, what flexibility do you have not being law enforcement to be able to help these cases?

Well, I mean, I'm just a civilian. Even if you have a PI license, you're technically just a civilian. It doesn't the ability make a, which requires an felony taking. There's to that. But I'm just a civilian day. So I go into places, investigate things that law enforcement officer and uniform.

Use a little bit of social engineering, make friends with the manager, talk to the girls, that sort of thing, kind of fit in and gather information that way. And that's not really something that law enforcement can do, right? We also can just look into people for no good reason. It's not necessarily legal to use open source intelligence to find things out on people.

Track through social media, make accounts. You can even use real accounts to follow the, follow the traffickers. Keep an eye on them. Especially if they post publicly. Right. Um, you know, law enforcement a lot of times doesn't have the resources, the time, the assets necessary to, to dedicate tracking down someone to, to that extent, especially if they, there's no proof of anything happening.

A lot of times for law enforcement to get involved. There's that sort of requirement of, we know this person has immediate harm or threats have been made. There's proof of that. But we're able to step in where the family tells us, Hey, we think this person's being trafficked, or, Hey, we think they're missing with this person.

We think they're over here. Uh, we kind of work in that gray, we think area, right. Versus the we know area that's required for law enforcement to take action. Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. And in terms of not being law enforcement, and I'm thinking through this, Do you find that people are more receptive to give you information, share with you?

'cause I know a lot of times there's a lot of apprehension with being a snitch or, or telling on somebody or, or even being seen speaking to the police. Um, do you find your, you're not being tied to law enforcement, gives you a little bit more access to, to people and to information? Sure. Yeah. Absolutely.

I mean, uh, I think a lot of what we, our mission is also kind of gives us that, that ability. So one of the things about us, particularly at Texas, we're not, our mission's not antico, it's not anti pornography. It's not anti, I think those, those are all.

Specifically on one thing. And we try and do that very well. Right. Um, and we think that if, if there's a lot of groups that do the other aspects of it very well, then we can all work together to get the entire process from beginning to end done very well. And because of that, we're allowed to go kind of into areas where we can have these conversations with the girls and they know that we're not gonna try and convince them to stop what they're doing or try and give them some religious or try and pull them out forcefully we're there and go, Hey, we have a 14 year, have you, do you help?

No, you're good. Bull Something, you know, you kind of make that relationship with the.

Uh, those who are missing in, in, in the life against their will. Right? And especially minors. There's, there's a lot of women that we speak to that say, Hey, she's too young for this, you know, out. And they'll just willingly give us the information. And, you know, that that takes years of kind of establishing that rapport with them.

But yeah, we, we definitely have a bit more leeway not being law enforcement.

Recognizing human trafficking is paramount in our collective efforts to combat this heinous crime. It involves remaining vigilant for signs that might otherwise go unnoticed, such as individuals exhibiting signs of physical or emotional distress, appearing fearful or controlled, lacking personal identification, or engaging in activities that seem incongruent with their age or circumstances.

By cultivating an awareness of these red flags and understanding the diverse tactics traffickers employ, we can play an active role in identifying potential victims and intervening to offer them the assistance they urgently need.

You made one comment earlier about it's not what you, what do you think it looks like, and I think that's very true. I think people have a perception that trafficking looks a certain kind of way. Can you explain a little bit more about that in particular? An analyst, I tend to have things a little bit black and white, but the UN defines human trafficking as quote, the recruitment, transport, transport, transfer person means of the threat or of force, Orion of fraud, deception of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or giving or receiving payment receiv or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.

So given that definition, that's kind of what we focus on. We go off of, we, we work around, we have received a lot of reports and such. Uh, we're a website and call ins and text messages of, Hey, I saw, I saw this little girl over here and was screaming too much. Parents weren't

under, and there's lot misconceptions. What trafficking looks like. I mean, end of the day it's a business and however bad it sounds, the people that are being trafficked are the product, not to dehumanize them, but the viewpoint from the viewpoint of the, it doesn't make financial sense, in my opinion, to take random people off the street and risk that much.

Kind of the danger surrounding all of that. Right. Especially if they're an adult, you know, the argument can be made having a bit more of a, I hate term, but

want that sort of thing. But of all the cases we've worked in the last four or five years, I think three of them have been proper abduction. Right. Typically what we're seeing is that it's, you know, it's someone that they know or it's, it's the relationship that kind of devolves, if you've ever watched the, the movie Rec Room for a Dream.

Um, but I. Depicts kind a, a poor relationship that devolves into and a lot of the somewhat voluntary beginning trafficking, sometimes not saying that trafficking is voluntary at all, but it does look a little differently just getting off the shoved into a, the somewhere being forced to provide certain services to the strange people.

Right. I think that's important to know because I think, I think everyone thinks that they'll recognize it when they see it because it'll be obvious and it's really not obvious. I know we did a case on the Serpent 13, and in that case their mother was trafficked by their grandmother, so sometimes it can be family trafficking and a lot of people don't realize that it can be internal in your family.

It can be be husband and wife, it can be boyfriend and girlfriend. There's a lot of different ways that trafficking can look and I think that's important to understand that it's, it's not always gonna look a certain way. Yeah, absolutely. And, and. I know, especially, and I, I think given that trafficking is exploitation at its core, exploitation of someone else's, their desires, there's a lot of spots where someone in need is exploited into that Right.

Financially or have housing issues or drug dependencies or, you know, some of the, that we speak to on the street, they're in the life, so to speak. And, and I'll say that my mindset on that personally is that kind of the same thing with squares and rectangles, right? Like all squares rectangles, not all rectangles are square, right?

Just because there's prostitution does not necessarily mean that they're being coerced against their will. I mean, a lot of times, once they're an adult, there's not much we can do unless there's

in.

Doing it and they enjoy the financial freedom them and for us personally, that's not something that we're going out there focus our efforts on. We're a small group investigate. Our focus is specifically on, hey, we have a 14 abducted told whatnot. But yeah, like you said, it, there's a lot of different types and starts to someone being trafficked.

Yeah, you made a good point 'cause you said that, you know, there's a market for children to be snatched off the street where that's not really much of a market for adults. And I, I think that's because of supply and demand. You have some people that choose that life and so there is some supply there. The market's not completely bare in regards to that.

And I know we're talking about it very coldly. But from a a child perspective, there's no supply except for what you Right force, right. There should be no demand as well. Yeah. There should be no demand. Right. There should be no demand. Could you share with our listeners the concept of countering and its significance against the battle against human trafficking?

We defined trafficking earlier as kind of coercion of someone into exploitation, and so countering is, I mean, simply the opposite of that. You know, trafficking in general, a huge umbrella has a lot of different shapes. There's labor trafficking, there's forced exploitation, there's served to sex trafficking.

It's a whole umbrella field. Basically, it goes back to that core definition of coercion and exploitation and that has a lot of different shapes and kind of globally too. It very different. There's regional differences in what and.

Specifically in the location and recovery of victims of commercial sexual exploitation. So of that giant umbrella of trafficking, we're kind of a sub umbrella of a sub umbrella. Mm-hmm. And that's what we particularly focus on trafficking efforts. So in general, counter trafficking goals, uh, are what they call the three Ps of protection, prevention, and prosecution.

So you wanna protect people from being exploited in the first place. And that's a whole conversation on kind of just general society and kind of the upbringing of children in, in this day and age probably would be an entire different podcast. Um, and then prevention as well. And prevention kind of goes hand in hand with education, kind of letting people know what trafficking looks like and how you stop it and once you do find it, what to do about it and whatnot.

And prosecution making sure that the people who are at the top of these chain of trafficking are prosecuted for their crimes are brought to. Some sort of not doing that anymore. I don't, I don't quite know the word for it. I wanna say justice, but I honestly, not as a criticism of our country specifically, but I don't believe that we have a justice system.

We have a legal system. Right. And I've seen that a lot of times in person. And if there was justice, I wouldn't be working a lot of these cases. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That's very accurate. One thing that I know that kind of sticks out to me is, I know that we had talked about some of the red tape, but when you're dealing with, you know, a potential trafficking case, what type of red tape obstacles are you seeing and why do you think that's important for the general public to understand when a case comes up?

Like I know the one that you guys worked in, um, Dallas, the Dallas Mavericks game, but like what kind of red tape should families be aware of when they're encountering a situation where they think maybe there's a potential trafficking case involved? Spin up law enforcement on any of these cases, it needs fit kind of neatly within a category, even trafficking itself.

So if you look at a majority of the trafficking prosecution cases, the convictions related to trafficking, at least in my experience, I would say that a lot of don't end up being charged with. Trafficking has a very specific set of requirements to be considered trafficking. A lot of times there's, they're charged with solicitations, you know, there's a few other minor charges there, not a lawyer.

So I can't exactly speak to, to all the ins and outs of what the charges are. But trafficking carries very heavy sentences. You know, especially if you, if you traffic here in Texas, if you traffic someone within a school or within a college, I think that carries a maximum penalty of like 99 years. But you have to prove trafficking.

Trafficking is a very difficult thing to do. Right. And so, as in most other cases, I'm sure you guys have seen with murder and whatnot, that they opt in for the lower charge because, you know, we can't get on trafficking, but we can get on. Or hey, he had a pound of weeded in his car so we can get him out, lease that, right?

And so they end up going for five years, 10 years, a lot less. And so when the case begins, that's something that the, the officer that responds has to keep in mind is kind of what category doesn fit in, what checkbox fill this out because is eventually going into own category. And so what we see sometimes too, like the Dallas Mavericks case, parents of a North Texas teenager have a warning to share with all of you tonight.

And that is the reality that human sex trafficking can happen even to your family. That's right. That family says that their daughter went to a Mavs game and disappeared. CBS eleven's Brooke Rogers with what every parent tonight should know. Our daughter, she loves going to the games, especially at this age.

It should have been a night of cheering and celebrating the Mavs win over Portland. But Kyle Morris's 15 year old stepdaughter left for the restroom and never came back. I kept looking over my shoulder towards the entrance to our section to see if, if she was coming back in surveillance video showed the teen in this garage near the a a c, leaving with an unidentified man.

It would be another 10 days before she was found 200 miles away. The family's attorney tells C B SS 11. The team was lured out of the a a c under false pretenses by a sex trafficking ring. Bianca Davis, c e o of anti-trafficking Agency, new Friends, new Life says trafficking typically begins with grooming on social media.

Um, it's not necessarily something where there is a random situation happening or a kidnapping in the in the street. I think if we're looking for white fans in a parking lot that we've missed it. The Morrises say their daughter had left home before, but this was different. They contacted the Texas Counter Trafficking initiative, who found her on April 18th in Oklahoma City.

She started crying and I walked up and, you know, I, I was trying to be, trying to be strong for her. She is now on the road to recovery, and three people have been charged with human trafficking and other offenses. Davis wants all parents to know that awareness and open communication are the best offenses.

Who are her friends? Where is she going when she's not in school? Um, it's something that is so subtle and we really have to have our antenna up before a moment like the Mavs game happens. They reported their, the child was missing and because she got up and left voluntarily at the beginning, right? So she was in the, in stadium, got up the person, the technical terminology or the technical category for.

Runaway. And so the minute that you put that sort of title on it, it falls on an entirely different category. I mean, basically they look at it and they put it the back of the drawer and they're like, alright, we find them. If not what, you know, it's just, it's, and that's, that's no, that's no fault that necessarily they, they only have so many resources to, to chase down runaways as well, because you do have runaways and people come back.

You have runaway adults that just needed a day or two to themselves or whatnot, they'll come back. And so law enforcement doesn't necessarily spend a lot of resources on those situations. And so if they're kidnapped forcefully, like on camera, that's a different situation. But that doesn't really ever happen.

And if it's a boyfriend or girlfriend or something that just turned off their phone, took all their social media, away them outta their account, took keys.

Because also for a fact that they're being traffick. They investigate, they can do welfare checks and such, but it's very difficult on traffic. I can recall one case that I was asked Partake in where we were called basically right when the law enforcement agencies were called, and in this particular case, this girl was walking along the street and some friends from school that she recognized pulled out and they asked did they get in the car because they were gonna this party or whatever.

And so she jumped in. Cool. And then the parents didn't hear from her in like a day. Turns out they had taken her all the way to San Antonio and kind of gone about it wasn't just.

On runaway. But the responding officer, great officer, uh, always, it didn't sit well with him. He was like, what can I do? And so he called Sergeant, had a conversation with, and sergeant said, okay, we'll call homicide. So he called homicide, homicide. I'll remember this forever. He had the phone on speaker for whatever reason he was speaking with the family so that they could also hear kind of what was going on.

I, I dunno if that's sop, but that's what was going on. Yeah. And he was talking to homicide and said, Hey, we have this bitch girl, this, this, this happened. My sergeant told me to call you. Homicide goes, is she dead yet? Wow. In front of the family on speaker. And the whole thing was just, you know, I mean, and I don't necessarily blame them, right.

Have their jobs that they do, their investigation, their role. And so, you know, for like, person dead, if not, why are calling? And so, And so then he called missing person and it was just this huge run around of no call this person, no, call this person. And there's not a lot of resources. So ultimately we ended up helping him kind of run down the license plate on the vehicle and mm-hmm.

Calling the, the, it was a rental car, so chasing down the rental agency and see who owned it and y yada, chasing it down, locating it, and so on and so forth. And we, we ended up getting here recovered in coordination with local law enforcement in that town that they ended up gonna. But it's just one of those things where the officer said that he had been on the, for 20 some years and he had never seen such a runaround.

And honestly, I see it happen pretty often. I mean, and it's no fault of anyone. It's difficult to.

It's a system, and when the problem doesn't fit the system perfectly, there's a gap Who handles this? And I think it's very interesting because you said, you know, a runaway versus a kidnapping, well that's a crime versus a noncrime. A runaway is not even a crime. It's a crime hasn't even been committed yet.

So of course they're not gonna expend a lot of resources on a runaway. They're gonna wait to see how it, you know, how it, like you said, how it turns out. I think Crystal asked me too, why it was important for, for people to know kind of about these, these kind of the red tape surrounding all this. One of the things I'll say too is in my experience of speaking with the parents, which honestly, sometimes speaking with the parents is more difficult than the actual work.

Yeah. I mean, that's your child, you know, there's emotions involved. It's

when.

And so being able to present the information in such a way that it's not just this hodgepodge of throwing data at them, because that's usually all that we do, is we walk in there and there's already information that needs to be, you know, we may look up a couple things here and there, and I'm ninja, I, I'm slightly above average skills I would say, but we piece some things together, put together nicely and make an organized report and go, Hey, here's the facts.

Here's what I know, here's what I dunno, and here's what we need to know. And a lot of times, even just having that conversation, you, I definitely don't blame the parents. I, I couldn't imagine being in such a spot of having to try and think logically in such a time. But a lot of times when we go on scene, there is family members too.

You have aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, and everyone's kind of running around trying to call people or making Facebook posts or, and all that. And amidst that chaos, Sometimes things kind of fall through the cracks. The information gets lost here and there. There's a lot of, he said, she said, and what we do is kind of sift through the noise and click and go, okay, here is all the information, the do this what you need to.

And that's a lot of our, our focus. Yeah. That's good. Well, it definitely seems like you guys are a force multiplier for the police force and you close the gap where they would need to deploy resources in order to gather all that information and go out and and question people and get all that information.

But when you bring it all wrapped up like that and you present it now, it's just the information that they need to go execute it helps kind of push things forward. Right. What kind of information is most important for you guys from friends and families and witnesses and stuff? Whenever something like this takes place that really help you guys the most?

Like what kind of information is really good information to give you? I always start with high resolution, clear image of them facing forward. Know, we vector, locate potentially.

And they go, Hey, my friend's daughter is missing. Okay, well it changes the game a little bit if it was today or three years ago, or four months ago. So we, we definitely wanna see the last date that, that they were seeing. Social media handles for sure. Anything online, whether that's smaller or big. You know, TikTok handles Instagram, handles, phone emails, all of that because a lot of times with phone numbers, I can search up social media handles that you may not even know they have.

There's a lot of features and functions that we have available where I can find Snapchats, Facebook, Instagram, because all that information is on the platform with the phone numbers and emails and such. Uh, definitely.

You can kind of read through, especially if they're minor, uh, with adults there's a bit more of, uh, red tape surrounding that. But with, uh, phones that belong to minors in the possession of the parents, with the permission available, we can kind of look through it and see what we can find. And sometimes we'll find text messages that are little sketchy things, images.

It's like, okay, well what were you doing on this day? Why is this Geotagged over here at this park? When you said you were at a school function type thing. And then that can kind of lead to, well, who are they talking to? And then so on and so forth. Kind of go from there. You know, we like to know kind of where they hang out as well, kind of what, what are they up to, what they like to do after school activities and such.

And that's all like beyond the immediate, you know, height, weight, were they wearing eye color, hair color, et.

And from there, my particular questions revolve more around online. Social media, all of that. So that's kind of what I focus on particularly JB does more of the, the physical asset part of it. So typically when we watch shows like 48 hours, you know, they're trying to identify who committed the crime within 48 hours.

What is a good timeline for like reporting a crime like this when something happens? Should parents be waiting four or five days to confirm when they think their child has run away or something like that? Or, or is sooner better? I mean, immediately if your child goes to the grocery store and they're supposed be back in 30 minutes and they weren't, uh, you know, I'm not saying be overly paranoid.

Mm-hmm. There's, there's a line between caution and paranoia and I, I think especially around some of the anti-trafficking stuff, a lot, that line has blurred a lot, especially around some of the social media and some of the recent media that's kind of been surrounding this topic. But if you have reasonable belief that they're missing, that they haven't answered their phone, not like them, that they, they've been back and you went there, you checked, you didn't see that thing.

There's a bit of. Immediately. The minute that you think that then they're no longer where they said they were gonna be, or you think something may be up there is no reporting limit. It could be 10 minutes. It could be 10 days. It could be 10 years. You can file with the police department at least that initial missing thing.

If the officer shows up and you're filling out the paperwork and they show back up, officer just goes, all right, cool. Have a nice day. Right? Like no harm, no file, no issue. Right? You thought something was going on and it's fine, but don't delay on on sort of that initial reporting. I think the 48 hours thing for me is not an accurate timeline of that sort of thing.

There's a lot of statistics that say that within the first week, someone who's not found will end up on the streets. For us, at least with what we do on the technological side, my limit at least is like 90 days. It's not a hard stop, but if we're seeing ads on someone and we stop seeing ads on someone for 90 days, that's kind of where we get a little bit worried about.

Well, they may no longer be. Right. If we have someone's being, lot times what we do, location, we'll see them in for and three in days somewhere near Oklahoma or Denver or you know, kind of see moving around because of for long. And if we start to see that the, the ads no longer or slowing down or no longer existing, then there's a lot of questions about, you know, did they get pregnant?

Are they injured, are they no longer with us at all? That sort of thing. But 90 days is kind of our timeline, so to speak. Gotcha. Uh, that's 90 days of since last scene. Right. That makes sense. From your experience, could you kinda shed some light on what you think the most prevalent type of trafficking victim is?

It's mostly just people in need. Honestly, trafficking has kind of organization that's snatching people off the streets and doing all that. But I think mostly it's people in rough financial situations. People that have unstable housing, they're they're own house and that sort of thing. And the type of victim is the person who is, is exploited by someone that they know or they think they know.

Most of the time, at least in my experience, um, I don't know what the exact statistics are on that, but a mother, a father, a brother, a boyfriend, a friend that you met, uh, when we've had a couple cases from girls who.

There's,

and further and further, and next thing you know,

line's just one of those things where it's, it's, it's sad really because it's, it's not always an immediate thing. Sometimes it's a slower thing and there's a lot of emotional manipulation involved. It's a lot of, it kind of goes hand in hand with, uh, domestic abuse is kind of the same. I'm, I'm no psychologist, I can't speak on that, but kind of the same mentality from the abuser.

Gas, making them feel like, well, you can't survive out there on your own. You need me, you need to be doing this. You know? Yeah. Or you have a child now whatcha gonna do, you can't go to school. And, and sometimes too, system isn't kind to, people suck in that. So if, at least down here in Houston, I can't speak about any other states, that's probably Texas wide as well.

But if you're out on, uh, Binet, which is one of the major streets down here, and you get arrested for prostitution, well that's a felony. So now you're charged with a felony, and let's say you don't have any, any educational background, you don't have any work history. So you get out, make your bond or whatnot, and like, do your bail.

You get out and it's like, okay, well now I'm hungry. I need a pay rent. I don't have a job. I can't get a job because there's a felony under my name. You know, I don't have any, any education to fall back on because a lot of times there's, there's that involved too. And so what do you do next? You know, the one thing that you've been doing this, this whole time to get money and a lot of money.

Right. You know, quick cash and then, you know, you could work a week and make 10 grand. And so when you have children, you have bills to, I mean, that's just the reality of the world. Yeah. That's kind of the most prevalent that I see is kind of someone stuck in a situation for more than just physical reasons.

Right. I noticed that with trafficking in particular, that it doesn't matter. So every, I know every state has like a legal age for consent, and I know that specifically with trafficking, that it doesn't matter if the person's 17 in a state, if they're under 18, it's considered trafficking, even if they say that they're agreeing to it.

So I'm agreeing at 17 to, to make $4,000 a day. So I wanted people to understand that, that there isn't red tape there, that that's very clearly stated. You know that if they're under 18, it's, it's trafficking. Even if they're agreeing to do it, do it because they're underage. Correct. Yeah. Thank you for that clarification.

Minors cannot consent. Full stop. Yeah. You know, that's, that's kind of my opinion on that. So considering the prevalence of online platforms, how susceptible are young individuals to being targeted online? I would say very, I mean if you look at just the prevalence of scams, you know, the amount of people who get targeted by, Hey, this is the i, if you don't give us 10 in Apple, we're gonna you jail people involved in, if you kind of think of that just in general, the of knowledge surrounding technology, you know, I would say very prevalent and it's just general exploitation of people, right?

Regardless of what

engineering.

Technology wasn't around when they were in their, in their prime, so to speak. And so when it did come around, you know, there's a lot of older people that dunno how to print PDFs and, and dunno what a tour is or Right. Uh, why does this internet have an onion, you know, that, that sort of thing. And I, I don't blame them.

I mean, it's, it's different times. Things move along very quickly. And even for people who are in that field professionally, it takes a lot of effort to actively keep up with this field. I mean, it's changing day to day, you know. Yeah. I mean, and that's an entire conversation on tech as well. But I think the interesting thing for younger people is that they have this weird mix of knowing a lot, not knowing a single thing either.

So you have, you know, toddlers that are able to use an iPad better than a lot of adults that I know. That's so true. But at the same time, not, not a lot, not a lot of them have the knowledge of, well, why does this work the way that it does? Right, right. I have a younger sister, she's in that sort of zoomer age, you would say.

Um, I mean, she has all the apps, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, whatnot. I do too, to try and keep up, but I, I don't care much for social media because it's kind of my day job. So I don't use it for enjoyment. I can't stand it personally, but she's very familiar on how to use it because all these interfaces are very user-friendly, very click tap, this, that, and the other.

But underlying knowledge of.

Society over the last few years of being okay to give up your data. You know, people don't read user agreements anymore because they're 50,000 pages long and it's like, Hey, you wanna use this app? That's cool, but you have to give us, you know, five a month your firstborn and all of your data for the next month or whatnot.

Yeah. And so all of that is very easily exploitable. And that's just in general with technology. That's, that's why I suppose, a broader conversation going on, but specifically as it goes towards trafficking, those are just tools. Just as any other tools. I mean, trafficking's been around for forever. And if you have more media and more tools to do whatever it is that you do, you're.

The whole field of technology makes it very exploitable for good and bad purposes. And so, and the professional terminology, like threat actors I suppose. But these, the traffickers are using these tools just like any other, so they're just as susceptible as anything else. And the added bonus to social media that it's essentially anonymous.

Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of accounts where I'm, you know, a, a, a cute teen from Oklahoma or whatever. Right, right. And I have guys who reach out to me and they're like, Hey, you know, like, here's my number, text me up, or whatnot. Well, now I have your number. Thanks, bro. Be anyone. You could be a 50 year old man and pretend to be 14 online.

And the anonymity that comes with being online goes both ways. And I'd say that it's easier to target people online. Them in person because a lot of people in person know knows what like danger looks like. You have someone walking up to you, their hand in their pocket or that sort of thing. You know, you're kind of on edge of is am I gonna get stabbed, shot, whatnot.

You're kind of kind of prepared for that in the physical environment, but none, not a lot of people know what that looks like in the online environment. That's a lot of education that's needed and it's continuing education because the minute that you learn something, the field changes again. Yeah. And there's a new app, there's a new tool, there's a new whatnot.

So I'd say, I'd say pretty susceptible. Um, but everyone is, I would say just in general from like a cybersecurity standpoint, what would you say is, is the, the app of choice for people looking to try to traffic others, what would be the app that you would think would be used most? I've seen a lot Instagram.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of Instagram, Twitter, not really the place for that sort of thing. I mean, Twitter is more like for advertisements for other things, but Instagram, dmm, you know, because they private, a lot of what people have, what they call, right? So you have your main Instagram, which you have your, like your mom, your grandma for sharing vacation pictures, and then you have your fin set where you follow like your drug dealer and whatnot.

And so a lot of people have different accounts and so they use sort of things. Conversations can then be taken to WhatsApp, telegram, signal, you know, and those are just the ones I know off, off the top of my head. But there's, there's a lot more, there's hidden calculator apps.

A couple times. So it could be used for kind of grooming within schools where you have one person who runs the, the Discord server and then, you know, it's sort of like, I won't say like a gang initiation type thing, but there's like an expectation of like, okay, well if you join the server you have to be cool.

Things that go on, that sort of thing. Um, you know, sometimes a lot like sexually explicit images are shared and they kind of normalizes that. Like, Hey, no, like this is cool, uh, your turn right and that sort of thing. And it kind of just evolve from there. But mostly Instagram, I mean, a lot of the conversations that we deal with, at least on day-today, go through Instagram.

I haven't seen very many things, at least in my experience, go through dark web, that sort of thing. A lot of people aren't technologically advanced enough to kind of go through that. And dark Web's a very specialized market as well. Um, if you're jumping on there, you probably are looking for more of the, the child oriented stuff, but in like the extreme case, So that would be four year old to 10 year old type thing.

Right. Um, and that's not a, I mean, that's a super niche market with, again, speaking coldly about it. I, I don't want people to think that, you know, using the term market dehumanizing, anyone in particular, but, um, that's just how the traffickers look at it. Uh, it's, it's more of a, it's more of a niche thing, so, right, right.

People aren't getting four to 10 year olds off of Instagram. Uh, at least in my experience. You know, I don't work DOD or DHS or fbi, I can't speak for that, but I haven't seen any of that. Or families that are facing situations that might necessitate your organization's services or similar support. What advice do you offer and what guidance would you extend to law enforcement professionals in such scenarios?

So if anyone's help, reach out, reach out.

Go send a message on the form that comes directly to me and to the team via our phone. So we get popup notifications about it. And when I read it, if it's something obviously immediate, you know, we'll, we'll reach out to them and recommend reach out to media authorities first, since we're not law enforcement.

But if it's something on the investigation side, something on, you know, the image searching side, looking for ads across several cities, that sort of thing, we'll, we'll definitely do our best to help. Uh, and if we can't, then we also know a lot of other nonprofits in the area who can help. You know, it's not exclusively just the recovery, I guess, going into a deeper rabbit hole, so to speak on that.

There's a facet, right? So,

Once they're pulled out, you know, sometimes traffic put safe, no cell days, you're okay off the, the rehabilitation aspect of it. So physical with, with any, any drug withdrawal, whether that be alcohol, heroin, meth, et cetera. And then after the fact, kind of once all the dust has settled, so to speak, there's that process of kind of reintegration in society and whatever that looks like for them, let's get you a job, let's get you an education, ged, a college degree sort of thing.

Set you up with someone who can, who give you those resources to get you set up to where you don't feel like you need to go back into the life for that particular thing, uh, because of the reasons that I spoke about earlier. Um, and then kind of last final step is like prosecution, right? Like let's, let's go after these guys.

That's always the longest step. I mean, that's that. And I know that was a bit of a rabbit hole, but all that to say that there's a lot of facets of this and I, I'm of the opinion that no one particular nonprofit can take care of all of it. Right. Very big task. Right. And there's a lot of nonprofits that do each parts of that very specifically.

Uh, I mean, I, I wouldn't dare dreaming of touching the prosecution side of it. I'm not an expert in that. I'd be doing more harm than good. Mm-hmm. And kind of knowing where your limits are and what you can and can't do, I think offers a lot of benefit to the, the issue. And so, you know, we've made it kind of our goal to kind of know a lot of these organizations that do these sort of things.

And we're always on, on the lookout, but someone reaches out.

Set protection. We try conversation. The whole point of the initiative, Texas, right? We things off investigation get, we don't have to be the ones that cross the line at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who does, as long as the person who needs support gets support from organizations that can. And so if you know someone needs services and needs support, I'd say reach out.

Uh, and, and then with that too, don't reach out to just one organization. You know, we're not, and they'll be all, at least the Houston United Against Trafficking, the National Trafficking hotline as well. I mean, hit up, hit up everything. Yeah. You know, knock, knock on every door. Some people take a long time answering, some people won't answer.

Some people answer immediately, and you never know. And so, you know, uh, any and all resources, I think, you know, that situation, I mean,

If they don't want read it, they don't read it. But you tried, right. And kind of on that too. Don't, don't stop bugging the cops. I mean, I've, I've talked to families where it's like, well, you know, I talked to the detective like two weeks ago. I'm like, no, call him again. You know, leave him a voicemail, send them a text, send him an email.

You don't have his email. I'll help you find It's probably public, so public, you know, keep that pressure on. If it's someone that you care about that you, you think needs assistance, don't stop. Don't give up. I think that's the hardest part of it too, is that people sometimes expect a sprint when it's marathon and it's exhausting.

And I, I've, I've talked to a lot of, a lot of domestic abuse victims as well, where, you know, that whole situation, it's never really done. It's always gonna come back up. It's always an issue that needs to be resolved again. There's always some something else that happens with it and you need a lot of patience and need, keep going, but it's a bit of a, and not to stop.

And as far as guidance for the law enforcement professionals,

People don't have the same that that law enforcement officials have. You know, from the officers I've met and from the people I've, I've worked with in my day job that have done overseas as operators and such, you get kind of, sometimes certain things. You see it as kind of a, you see it as kind of, you know, I'm, I'm clocking in at eight, I'm clocking at five and you know, if this goes to 5 0 5, well I'll hand it off to the next office and that sort of thing.

Mm-hmm. And, and I'm not saying it's all officers, not a criticism of law enforcement in general, but there, I think needs to be that kind of understanding of this is this person's worst day of their life and you're walking into that and they're expecting some assistance and so patience and understanding provide will help at the very least, comfort them in the moment.

You know? And that's lot of. Too. What looks, because they're very to go, what category does this fall under? What can do with it? Again, I'm not saying all law enforcement officials, so there's some fantastic officers out there. Yeah. They get work if they're needing assistance. Certain, we provide assistance to everyone.

We're just civilians at the end of the day. Anyone who asks, we've worked alongside dps, dhs, fbi, and uh, we've kind of established those relationships with them, but we we're happy to help out whoever. I mean, if we needed do a talk, we need do an education thing, I'm happy to do it. And then along that kind of just, I'd say this for any professional in any field, but seek continuing education.

There's a lot of courses that can be done on your own time or sometimes even offered by certain cities or certain. That's funded by them, you know, an hour or two of your time that kind of does a lot of those trainings on what does it look like, how can you recognize it, who do you report it to, what does that process look like?

You know, what organizations, that sort of thing. And there's a lot of antit organizations out there that do work with, with educating law enforcement and educating families on the interactions with law enforcement and such. And I think that's fantastic. That's not something that we do, but I, I, I do think that's very needed and, uh, amazing work as well.

That's incredible. Sorry, that was a bit of a long-winded answer. No, that's awesome. Very thorough, very, very thorough. It's funny that in 2023, it still takes a village. It takes everyone working together, all these resources coming together to help keep our kids protected, to help keep our families protected.

Um, you talked about the website. Can you, can you give us a website, the initial for Texas County Trafficking Initiative? So TX and that's org, uh, O R G. You kind of submit form if you have questions, comments, um, we do have a donation box. We gladly accept donations. Donations, I'll clarify. Uh, none of us on there have a salary.

We support operations basically for the most part for the last few years out pocket until we recently received this, kind of, this wave of attention from, from the recent Mavericks situation. But all the finances that we receive are used directly to support operations, so that'll be hotels. Uh, when we need to kind of do recoveries.

A lot of times what we'll do is we'll get hotels on the strip or next door to someone that we think maybe being trafficked and just pretend to kind of be in the area and such. But cars, uh, for, for the gas, you know, expenses for that sort of thing. If we do end up having to get them any immediate resources, the, the finances go towards that as well.

And such. Uh, maybe down the line we're, we'll, we'll look at kind of getting some full-time positions on board. For right now. Everyone's a volunteer, but, uh, That's what that goes down to. And then there's also the, uh, the contactless page on there. So, uh, feel free to hit that up. And there's all of our emails on there.

You can email us directly. We'll provide all those links and stuff in the show notes as well so that people can access them. If people wanna get involved in any way, whether that's to volunteer with you guys or provide any type of resources or anything of that nature, what would they need to do? So you can always fill out the form that's on our website.

There's no requirement on what goes on this form. So anything and everything can be sent through there. I'll say that currently given our, our financial situation, we're not hiring. Uh, we've had, we've had that question a couple times where like you.

Side of things, but I'm also up a team dedicated cybersecurity intelligence, military intelligence professionals, a kind of playing it by ear as I go. But essentially we have, we have full of these people and what we're doing is gathering cold cases and active cases that we get invited on and crowdsourcing the analysis work behind it, anything and everything that we can kind of put together, and then kind of packaging it nicely and giving it to the appropriate authorities.

So that's a, that's a bit of a goal that we're starting, but if anyone wants to get involved in that cybersecurity front, uh, task, uh, email me.

There's a lot of organizations that, that are in the anti-trafficking field. I have been told by context we had in DPS that, uh, there's only like two or three organizations in Texas that specifically on investigations, but as far as the education side of things, prevention, outreach, there's a lot of groups.

So spend a lot of time there. I reach out to them as well. I'm sure like any, anything in this, this whole field, like I I mentioned earlier, there's, there's so many aspects of trafficking and, and anti-trafficking process that, I mean, anyone can do something, you know, and like you said, it takes a village.

So, yeah. Is there anything else that you wanna share that you'd like to put out or that we didn't cover? Well,

Situations around being people being trafficked, but wanted to bring up that according to the UN and fews, I don't have do for those who, but the majority of trafficking revolves around forced labor, that being child labor migrants and specifically in farms and factories. And a lot of times there's, and so

are represen.

And so a lot of the sex trafficking statistics that we have come from people reporting into the national trafficking hotline, but labor trafficking looks very different and it's just as bad because you're still coercing someone into so forth situation. Uh, but a lot of the times, I mean, they bleed somewhat normal looking lives.

I mean, they may have children, they have cars, they have phones. It's not something that from the outside looking in unless you specifically know the situation, they would show. And, and sometimes too, with those who are minors working in farms and factories, as we've seen recently in, in, in the US there's been a few articles on some companies getting hit with severe fines for all that, you know, if you're 14 and, and you're the only source of financial resource for your family, you're not really gonna go out there saying that that's what you're doing, because then that's gonna get shut down and now your family can't eat.

So I eventually wanna kind of expand into labor trafficking, especially down here in the south, you know, farms, factories, kind of the forced labor that comes up from.

I think there's not enough conversation around some of the trafficking around that, and I, I would like, because in my opinion, it's, it's right up there, coercion. And, and so a lot of people don't. They're being, they themselves. That's necessarily what the title is behind it. Right? Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I definitely think that education's a big gap in that, in that arena for sure.

Yeah, it's definitely difficult, especially socially. How do you start those conversations sometimes, especially with, with people who are wanting to just make their way one way or another when you're in violation of a law or you're breaking a law, even being in the country and now you're being trafficked, and who, where, who are you gonna tell that to?

Yeah. You know, who are you gonna report it to? I mean, a lot of immigrants are taught to keep their head down. I mean, uh, myself, I came from Venezuela and you know, we, we came here legally and all that good stuff, but still it's like, you know, keep your head down, you know, learn the language for the school.

Yeah, don't attention to yourself. There's a lot of, right. Yeah. I, I haven't even had a traffic ticket to my name, and so your unicorn, that sort of, right. And so it's like, you know, I, a lot of that conversation, I don't think it's had with a lot of these, the, the communities of color and it's, it's one of those things that I think does need to happen eventually.

You know, obviously sex trafficking is very important issue, but I think the larger umbrella of.

To have, but there are a lots trafficking and a lot of, a lot of money, I mean, who benefit very well from underpay workers conversation that people are, I'm not have, so

Crystal and I, we, we owned a business in, uh, where we were challenged with other businesses not hiring their labor above the table. And so that really made things challenging for us as a business trying to do the right thing. Competing against businesses who are doing the wrong thing. You can't compete.

You just can't compete. Right. Yeah. One of our biggest competitors, I mean, was bringing people in from out of the country and what they would do is they would house them in different areas. And I'd rent a house. They'd put 20 guys in there and they would work outta that house. They'd pay 'em real low.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I mean, and that's trafficking, I mean by, by the definition that the UN has of, I mean, that is trafficking conversation to have. Yeah. Like you said, it's so much money behind. It's like, Well, people don't wanna pay $20 for basket of strawberries, right? Mm-hmm. So it's like there's this, this conversation around kind of the economy and a lot of stuff.

And I think as a country we're not necessarily ready for that. I won't, I won't delve into that. Yeah. But you know, I think there's a lot of important conversations around that. We have yet to have hat, you know, I think there's a lot of knowledge on sex trafficking. There's a lot of visibility, there's a lot of education, and that's great.

I'm all for that. But I also would like to eventually expand into capital T trafficking. Yeah. Um, you know, and, and what that looks like. I mean, you have people coming over from China, Japan, South Korea too on, on false ss of work, and they come over and take their take. Can't

make money, but.

Yeah, from a definition perspective, that is trafficking. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and you're coercing someone to, to force labor and you know, I, and I think it's more difficult to spot, which is why I think it's a little bit underreported and why it's not as prevalent as in the conversation now. But that is something that is kind of, I dunno, it's some, something I would like to eventually tackle.

Yeah. It sounds like a, another podcast sometime in the, in the near future is what it sounds like. Stefano, you have a lot of good information and you're sharing a lot of good points and I, I think this is things that people need to hear just in the conversation, what you were just having just now.

Something clicked in my mind. There was a guy from the Middle East that was working in a cell phone office and he said he couldn't quit that job until he had worked there for so many years. And just now that was just clicking in my mind. I'm like, is he being trafficked? Is he being labor trafficked?

Right. Especially in California. I mean, I would imagine there's labor trafficking that goes on in California. That's why it's important to have these conversations, you know? Yeah. Kind of. Recognize that and, and be able to, to, you know, yeah. Do something about it. And I think to your point, I think, I think that the sex trafficking is very in your face, very black and white.

Wrong. We can all look at that and go, this is wrong. But then on the, on the labor side, it's more gray. It's like, eh, this is, you know, it's not good, but you can't really say that it's wrong. Yeah. They're getting paid, but they're not getting paid what they should be getting paid. Right. Or they, they don't have the freedom to leave if they wanna leave.

And that's a problem. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, ultimately for me, I think my, my belief kind of boil down to if you subvert the, of another human, that's one of the most ultimate wrong that you can do. Right. Regardless of what that looks like. Yeah. You know, and it's 100s like you said, it's a difficult conversation to have because you're providing, I mean, not providing a lot, but those people have work, whatever that looks like.

And so, you know, the impacts on the economy impacts on it's conversation that, like I said, I don't think that the US.

In 2018, Minnesota witnessed an intricate year-long preparation for a sir one event. Sears stands for Special Event Assessment Rating and what that is, so a level one is actually the highest level that you have right under a presidential visit, which requires a lot of pre-planning and positioning and things of that nature.

During this process, you know, there was, it was very meticulous planning that involved collaborative efforts amongst various agencies, encompassing law enforcement, medical personnel, logistics, airspace control, and more. You know, these preparations were tailored to the specific event type, crowd size and associated risk factors.

Notably major events like the Super Bowl. Often lead to exuberant festivities marked by partying and indulgence, which inadvertently creates an environment that's conducive to certain illicit activities. Recognizing this, the proactive approach included targeted training to spot instances of human trafficking across various sectors, including banking, law enforcement.

Medical establishments, transportation services, and hotels. As a result of these preparations, nearly 20 trafficking victims were successfully rescued during the, this period surrounding pre and post-event celebrations. This case underscores the significance of such in integrated efforts in combating the hidden horrors that can emerge during large gatherings.

And so basically, for those of you that aren't aware of, you know, there's a lot of coordinated efforts that take place. And just to give you an idea, because there was, you know, hundreds of private planes that flew in for this event. Capacity for the city of what the city was able to handle was so astronomical that we had to bring in extra law enforcement.

We had to bring in extra e m s units in case something medical took place. And all of this is, you know, it requires a very high level of collaboration amongst a lot of different agencies. And based on the size and the type of event, and based on the sear level indicated, who would be. You know, responsible for this event as a whole in that you have things like, you know, the Super Bowl has this 10 days of partying up until the Super Bowl event.

And then typically there's some things after as well because of all the partying and whatnot. We did training with these different places so that they could recognize what human trafficking looked like, and there was a lot of people that were rescued during that timeframe. So just things for, for people to be aware of.

I think nowadays there is a lot more training going in, especially where people are gonna encounter human traffickers such as airlines, such as hotels, such as ride shares. I think it's really important that this, we continue with these trends and maybe these service type of functional jobs or, or locations like, uh, the hospitalities and transportation businesses need to continue to push that level of training to identify.

'cause we don't always know what trafficking looks like. We assume we know what it looks like. We think it looks like a, but it can look like A, B, C, or D. So I think it's really important to continue to push that education. Stef, no, we, we really appreciate you coming to the table today and, and speaking with us about human trafficking and it was very insightful.

I learned a lot today in our, in our conversation. I think you guys are fighting the good fight. If we can help in any kind of way, whether that's through promoting your efforts, you know, sharing with, with, with our audience. Anything that you guys have going on. Yeah. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Yeah.

You know, any and all help is, is, uh, very much appreciated. Like I said, it's a fight. I mean, it's a long. It's one that's been going on since like forever and we'll probably go on for another little bit. Uh, so you called it a marathon man, and that's, that's what it is. That's it's a marathon. Yeah. I mean, every time one case is solved, there's five more.

You know, it's, it's a never ending thing. You the best success get reaches out or what not. I'd be happy to, you know, if we can't help them at least try and point them in the right direction or something, or will do, uh, throw them into that project that I'm kind of spinning up. Yeah. So I, I definitely appreciate y'all's assistance.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 9 1 1. We've covered so many cases on body of Crime where someone said it looked strange, it felt off, but I didn't do anything. I failed to act. I say that because if your gut is telling you something is wrong, it's better for you to act and be wrong than for you to not act and be right.

Absolutely. So we're gonna provide some resources in our show notes for you guys. That's gonna include the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which is a 24 7 hotline. Um, we'll provide the telephone number and also the webpage. And for human trafficking survivors, a multitude of resources spanning from essential banking services to legal assistance and counselings are available.

We're committed to providing easy access to these invaluable resources. You can find a direct link to these comprehensive support services in the episode Show notes, or simply navigate to our website to resources tab for more information. That's at www.bodyofcrimepodcast.com. Your journey to healing and recovery matters deeply to us and to everyone else.

For cases involving sex trafficking, the primary agency to contact is the F B I. To ensure a swift and accurate response report any information to the F B I through the hotline at one 800, call F B I. In situations of imminent danger or urgent assistance, please dial 9 1 1 immediately. Should you wish to share relevant information with us, we encourage you to do so via private message.

For further information and comprehensive details, please refer to the provided website. Your engagement is essential in the fight against human trafficking. Engaging in the battle against human trafficking encompasses diverse avenues each making a meaningful impact. Whether you choose a volunteer your time, contribute resources, pursue a role within an organization like tx, C T I offer support, lend your voice as an advocate, or perhaps most crucially adhere to the principle of if you see something, say something akin to the military's opposite term.

Your involvement matters. Together. Through these collective efforts, we can dismantle the shadows, cast by human trafficking and create a safer world for all. We have included some of these in the show notes, and they are also available on our website. Under the tab, get Involved. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our esteemed guests for dedicating valuable time to enlighten and empower our viewers and listeners in this ongoing battle against human trafficking.

Your insights have undoubtedly contributed to our collective efforts, and we deeply appreciate your presence on our platform today.

And that's a wrap on today's investigation, fellow detectives. If you found this episode both in enlightening and captivating, then please subscribe to our podcast show and our Patreon. Leave a review and hit that like button. Share our podcast with others. And engage with us on our website and social media platforms.

You can find us on all major podcast platforms as well as our website at www.bodyofcrimepodcast.com, where you can access all of our episodes and bonus content, including valuable resources By expanding our community, we believe we can make a greater impact in our pursuit of truth and the shedding light on crucial cases.

If there's a case that you'd like for us to cover or a personal story you'd like to share, please don't hesitate and contact us through our website. We always welcome your feedback and suggestions. Until next time, stay sharp and thank you for tuning in to the Body of Crime Podcast. Podcast. I.