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scared to call the police because they can be seen as prostitution
girls get arrested for prostitution
law enforcement is becoming better at finding the traffickers

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It's a vicious cycle that law enforcement in the U.S. sees time and time again. Women can be pulled in to commercial sex through gangs or pimps-the former function as delivery services, taking women to houses in the area they control, while the latter focus on hotels and street level prostitution, according to Woolf. "In gang-controlled situations, it's usually going to be that the girl is from the area. When it's a pimp ... it'll probably be girls from all over the place," he said.

A woman, who I met through the Thomson Reuters Foundation and who asked that I not use her name to ensure her safety, was pulled in by a pimp when she was 17 years old. Before then, her life was fairly ordinary. She had a good upbringing-a closely knit family and comfortable home. But in high school, she learned that her mother had been embezzling money from her company, and would be sentenced to seven years in prison. That changed everything.

After her mother was gone, she acted out and her relationship with her father fell apart, she told me. So when a guy on Facebook reached out with caring messages, she took notice. "He said everything I wanted to hear, especially with my mom being away," the woman said. After she graduated high school, the two decided to meet. Then, at 17 years old, she bought a bus ticket to see him, planning to stay with him for a week. But to her surprise, the man, about seven years her elder, immediately told her she needed to make money upon arriving, if she intended to stay with him.

For four days, she said, she worked for him by going to an area for commercial sex. Soon after, another pimp approached her, promising to fill a void-family. She stayed with him for a few months until returning home to see her mother released from prison, after two years instead of seven. Later, she told me, another man courted her on Facebook, asking her to join him in Texas. He also was a pimp.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, the man, who was part of a ring, was luring her in. The woman and up to seven others were taken across state lines to strip and engage in commercial sex. She recalls going to Colorado, Arizona, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. When she arrived to Baltimore, Maryland, she had had enough. "That situation was really, really hard for me," she told me. But leaving was out of the question. If anyone tried to run away, the girls and the men were tasked with stopping them, she told me, adding that she also had no phone and couldn't be on Facebook. "Literally my rights were ripped from me."

When the FBI, with the assistance of the Baltimore Police Department S.W.A.T. team broke up the ring, she, too, felt as if she were an offender. "I thought I was getting arrested. I didn't look at them like they were there to save me. I looked at them like they were there to arrest me," she said. The FBI had been investigating the ring for two years.

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When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America

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It's a vicious cycle that law enforcement in the U.S. sees time and time again. Women can be pulled in to commercial sex through gangs or pimps-the former function as delivery services, taking women to houses in the area they control, while the latter focus on hotels and street level prostitution, according to Woolf.

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awareness and hotline information buy and know where products are made like if it is a safe and legal organization

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Anyone can join in the fight against human trafficking. Here are 20 ideas to consider.

1. Learn the indicators of human trafficking on the TIP Office's website or by taking a training. Human trafficking awareness training is available for individuals, businesses, first responders, law enforcement, educators, and federal employees, among others.

2. Be a conscientious and informed consumer. Find out more about who may have picked your tomatoes or made your clothes at ResponsibleSourcingTool.org , or check out the Department of Labor's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor . Encourage companies to take steps to prevent human trafficking in their supply chains and publish the information, including supplier or factory lists, for consumer awareness.

3. Host an awareness-raising event to watch and discuss films about human trafficking. For example, learn how modern slavery exists today; watch an investigative documentary about sex trafficking; or discover how forced labor can affect global food supply chains. Alternatively, contact your local library and ask for assistance identifying an appropriate book and ask them to host the event.

4. Use your social media platforms to raise awareness about human trafficking, using the following hashtags: #endtrafficking, #freedomfirst.

5. Become a mentor to a young person or someone in need. Traffickers often target people who are going through a difficult time or who lack strong support systems. As a mentor, you can be involved in new and positive experiences in that person's life during a formative time.

6. Journalists: The media plays an enormous role in shaping perceptions and guiding the public conversation about human trafficking. Seek out some media best practices on how to effectively and responsibly report stories on human trafficking.

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20 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking - United States Department of State

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Anyone can join in the fight against human trafficking. Here are 20 ideas to consider. Learn the indicators of human trafficking on the TIP Office's website or by taking a training. Human trafficking awareness training is available for individuals, businesses, first responders, law enforcement, educators, and federal employees, among others.

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1/3 kids go into sex trafficking within 48 ours
lure in girls that don't live a good life and want to be socially accepted then lure them with social media

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A 61 year-old human trafficking survivor is sharing her story for the first time to help other victims.

Her name is Jean, 12news will not release her last name for safety reasons. Jean said she wants victims to know its possible for them to find help and happiness.

When Jean was 13 years-old, she made a mistake that changed her life. She ran away from her home in Florida.

"I ran and I ran into the streets, right into the arms of my abusers," said Jean.

On the streets, she befriended a man who gave her food and shelter. He quickly earned her trust and told her he would like to raise her at his ranch in California.

"He said would you like to come live on my ranch and I'll raise you as my daughter and for course I thought my dreams have been answered," said Jean.

She was given a plane ticket to her new home in California but when she was picked up from the airport her dream turned into a nightmare.

"He backhanded me and knocked me in the door and told me to speak only when spoken to and put a cap over my head," said Jean.

When Jean arrived to the ranch she was given drugs, thumb printed and then introduced to her first client.

"I looked at him and told him I won't do this and he took a hose and beat me with a hose until I cried and said ok I'll do whatever you want me to do," said Jean.

Jean was stuck right in the middle of human trafficking. Her pimps used drugs and beatings as a way to control her. Each day she would see several clients until she passed out from exhaustion. Sometimes she would see up to 20 clients in one day.

"These people were very sick," said Jean. "The things that they wanted to, they'd pay thousands of dollars for."

Unfortunately Jean is not the only one with this horrifying story. According to the National Runaway Hotline one out of three children who run away from home is lured into sex trafficking within 48 hours.

Officer Chris Price with the Beaumont Police Special Assignments unit said it happens right here in Beaumont.

"They like to use hotels easily accessible to the highway: your red roof inn, suburban inn, Motel 6 and Regency Inn," said Officer Price. "One of the hotels we've worked on is the Regency Inn off College Street."

On Wednesday, a Jefferson county grand jury indicted a man named Johnny Matlock for trafficking multiple women. According to the indictment, he reached out to the young girls through social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat.

"They are looking for girls with problems, not a great home life, not socially accepted and work on it and try to be their friend," said Price.

Price said pimps also use Backpage.com to prostitute women. It's an advertising website that includes an adult, massage and dating section.

While the adult section is censored and shut down, Price still believes it is getting used to prostitute women.

"When there is a will there is a way, they are always going to try to work," said Price. "The Beaumont Police Department and the narcotics unit, they actively work on things like that nature."

Lisa Boler owns the Harvest house which is an outreach center for sex trafficking victims. She said human trafficking happens in Beaumont more often than you think.

Last year she has worked with 23 sex trafficking victims.

"We're dealing with our own girls, our domestic girls in our cities and our homes," said Boler.

This year she has helped four victims in the Golden Triangle. In the past she said she has worked with some victims who were as young as 12 years-old. Boler explains pimps manipulate the young girls by acting like their boyfriends.

"Sometimes a girl won't recognize the signs because she is in love and what does every girl want to be in love," said Boler.

Unfortunately, some young children never make it out alive to share their story. According to the Child Rescue Network the life expectancy of a sex trafficking victim is only 7 years.

Luckily, Jean was able to escape after she spent 2 years in what she calls pure torture.

"You think you will never get out, you'll never get away that it's always going to be with you," said Jean. "It doesn't have to be."

Seven years ago, Jean came to Beaumont after she was encouraged by her son to find God and start a new life.

Jean said reading her bible and praying at the Cathedral in the Pines church has helped her heal.

"I used to say finding him at the end is what saved me but he's what gave me my new beginning," said Jean.

Her new beginning includes reaching out to other victims to let them know they can start over and live a normal life.

"There is a life after what they have been through and if they want to press charges I would say go for it," said Jean.

While Jean admits recovering from the pain is difficult she suggests they find a church. After a while, Jean said she was able to forgive the pimps that hurt her.

"Those memories, the pain kept me in a prison much worse than the walls that they put me in," said Jean.

As Jean looks back on her life, she realizes that she no longer lets her past as a sex trafficking victim define who she is as a person.

"I don't carry the anger anymore, I don't carry the pain anymore and they can't hurt me anymore," said Jean.

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline Texas is the second highest in the nation for Human Trafficking cases.

In 2016 the state has seen 670 cases and received 2,135 calls.

If you or someone you know is tuck in human trafficking please call the hotline at 888-373-7888. You can also call the Harvest House in Beaumont at 409-790-0798.

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Beaumont woman shares her human trafficking survival story

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A 61 year-old human trafficking survivor is sharing her story for the first time to help other victims.

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estimated that there are 20  to 47 million people trafficked
generates 150.2 billion dollars

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What is Human Trafficking?

Human Trafficking: The recruitment and/or movement of someone within or across borders, through the abuse of power/position with the intention of forced exploitation, commercial or otherwise.

The first U.S. law on human trafficking - the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) breaks down human trafficking into three elements: Action, Means, and Purpose

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Although the TVPA broadly separates trafficking into labor and sexual exploitation, more specific forms of trafficking include domestic servitude, forced marriage, child soldiering, forced begging, forced criminal activity, and organ trafficking. Debt bondage is often a means to various forms of trafficking. Read the HTC's definitions here.

Labor exploitation can be state-imposed or occur in the private economy. State-imposed exploitation might include, for example, uncompensated prison labor or state-run forced labor camps.

Who is vulnerable to trafficking?

Displaced persons, minorities and other marginalized groups are vulnerable to human trafficking. Impoverished populations and victims and survivors of interpersonal violence and homelessness are also at increased risk. Traffickers often take advantage of these individuals' vulnerabilities and unmet needs.

Within labor and commercial sexual exploitation, children make up about 25 percent of those victimized.

Who are traffickers?

Traffickers can be any age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. In many cases traffickers are related to or are close acquaintances of those they are exploiting.

How many people are trafficked?

Estimates on how many people are trafficked globally vary from 20 to 37 million. The HTC considers the ILO's number to be most methodologically reliable - 20.9 million. However, even the best estimates likely have some degree of inaccuracy since it's difficult to measure activity within illicit markets. Additionally many individuals who are trafficked don't identify as such, often because of fear or unfamiliarity with the concept of trafficking.
How much money is made from human trafficking?
The ILO estimates human trafficking generates $150.2 billion in illegal profits each year. More than one-third of these profits are from forced labour exploitation and the remaining two-thirds from sexual exploitation.

These profits are highest in Asia and in developed economies due to the high number of victims in the Asia-Pacific region (11.7 million) and the high profit per victim in developed economies ($34,800 per victim). Victims of sexual exploitation garner the highest profits for traffickers, at a global average of $21,800 per victim.

Why is the HTC's work important?

Unlike other more established fields such as domestic violence or sexual assault, the solutions to trafficking are not yet clearly understood. Human trafficking is a young field lacking a developed body of research. The HTC critiques research designs and conducts its own methodologically sound research. The HTC is preparing its associates for careers in research and advocacy by building a foundation of academic rigor that matches its associates' passion for ending all forms of human trafficking.

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What is Human Trafficking? About the Problem...Human Trafficking Center

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Human Trafficking is the recruitment and/or movement of someone within or across borders, through the abuse of power/position with the intention of forced exploitation, commercial or otherwise.

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During the day, Shandra Woworuntu was forced to service men at a brothel tucked away in New London. At night, she was driven to hotels in Connecticut and forced to service more men.

Woworuntu was brought into the United States from Indonesia under false pretenses. She is now one of countless survivors of human trafficking in the country.

The $32 billion worldwide industry of human trafficking has been misperceived as something that occurs outside the United States, according to Alicia Kinsman, director of victim services at the International Institute of Connecticut. The institute works with foreign-born survivors, citizens and green card-holding survivors of human trafficking, Kinsman said.

It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked -- for both labor and sex -- in this country annually, according to The Polaris Project, a national anti-trafficking organization.

"It's a rapidly growing criminal enterprise because it's a high-profit and low-risk crime," Kinsman said. "Criminals who were previously selling guns and drugs are now selling people because it's so hard to identify and prosecute."

The issue of human trafficking has gained attention at both the national and state levels. Many state and non-governmental agencies in Connecticut have zeroed in on the crime in the last few years.

Agencies have dedicated resources to educating the public, training law enforcement, identifying cases and providing services to survivors. State legislators have worked to pass laws to enforce stricter penalties for traffickers and increase protection for survivors.

Since 2012, the University of Connecticut identified 40 survivors in Connecticut. Since 2008, the state Department of Children and Families has identified 120 child survivors in the state. These numbers likely are underrepresented, as they only account for those who have been identified and served by an agency.

Woworuntu came to America in 2001 from Indonesia under the impression she would be working as a waitress in a major hotel. She paid $3,500 between airfare and administrative fees to obtain the job. When she got to New York, her passport and other identification were taken away, she said. She was taken to a brothel in Connecticut, far away from any neighbors, Woworuntu said.

"They locked me up," Woworuntu said. "I couldn't open the door. I opened the window to try and jump from the second floor, but it was too high so I wouldn't escape."

Woworuntu is one of tens of thousands of individuals who are trafficked into the United States, according to the 2012 state Office of Legislative Research "Backgrounder on Human Trafficking."

But not all individuals who are trafficked come to the United States under false pretenses. Children in the states can be exposed to trafficking through boyfriends, older men and social media websites, Woworuntu said.

Many agencies have caught onto the issue of domestic trafficking and have begun preventative workshops and education initiatives.

"Prevention and education is so key because it's giving these kids the tools and knowledge to protect themselves, and it's empowering them to know that they have that knowledge to protect themselves out in the community," said Nicole von Oy, U.S. training and outreach coordinator at Love 146 -- an international organization dedicated to the abolition of child exploitation and trafficking. Its U.S. office is in New Haven.

Love 146 has held prevention education workshops in Connecticut high schools, group homes and care facilities since 2010. The workshops focus on four key elements: training of adults who work with at-risk children; intervention for victims; mentoring for survivors; and education for at-risk children.

"If you were to really look at a list of risk factors, every girl is at risk," said von Oy. "However, there is a subpopulation of girls that are at risk that have been sexually abused, a history of trauma, domestic violence, experimenting with drugs."

Many police officers are still learning about the prevalence of sex trafficking within the state, according to Sgt. Tracy Baden of the New Britain Police Department. In 2006, Connecticut passed a law that required training programs about human trafficking for local police departments and prosecutors.

"We find that a lot of girls and boys become runaways," Baden said. "They end up being pimped out, and end up being trafficked, and we see a lot of that. ... I think police officers don't even realize how much it's happening right here."

Children involved in the welfare system are at a higher risk because they are often more vulnerable, according to Stefania Agliano of DCF. Agliano said these children often come from a place where they faced trauma, abuse or neglect, and are seeking a connection or love.

Still, it is important to note that all children are at risk because of the manipulative nature of traffickers. Traffickers can easily use social media to lure individuals from behind a computer screen, building "trusting" relationships with potential victims, Agliano said.

The complex relationship between a victim and a trafficker can hinder the ability of the victim to seek or receive help from the police, according to Agliano.

"It's their comfort zone; it might be horribly abusive, but it's all they've ever known, and we have to get them comfortable in a whole new world," said survivor Jessica Richardson of Oregon.

Richardson met her trafficker when she was 17. He seemed to care, just what she was seeking after a rough couple of years. Her pimp created a false identity for her as a 22-year-old named Joanna. He had three to five girls, each serving 20 to 30 clients daily, Richardson said.

She was a modern-day slave, but a police officer could easily have mistaken her for a prostitute.

"Part of this goes back to not being able to tell the difference between someone who is willingly in the sex industry and someone who is being exploited," Richardson said. "Short of being beaten and bloody all the time, in a dungeon, or a child, the only way to really find out is to build a relationship and build trust so they can tell you."

Baden, along with a handful of other officers, is now partnering with DCF to develop training for law enforcement officials on domestic minor sex trafficking in Connecticut.

This consists of any commercial sex act involving a U.S. minor -- pornography, prostitution or sex tourism, according to Love 146. More than 100,000 U.S. children are forced to engage in prostitution or pornography annually, the group says.

These children often are marketed in pornography as college girls.

Training of law enforcement will be critical to the ability of patrol officers to identify the difference between a prostitute and a trafficking victim. As of 2010, Connecticut law prohibits law enforcement from prosecuting an individual younger than 16 for prostitution.

While the training will focus on child sex trafficking, Agliano explained its overall importance.

"Let's be clear that when you're making that arrest of a 35-year-old, you might only be meeting her in chapter 22 of her story," Agliano said. "We don't know everything that happened to her, and she might have been that 11-year-old."

Although Woworuntu was 24 when she was trafficked, she recalls one of the girls at a brothel as "so young." She eventually helped the girl escape through a bathroom window.

"I went to a precinct in New York; they didn't listen to me. I went to another precinct; they didn't listen to me, too," Woworuntu recalled.

She also remembered having to sleep on benches in the subway at one point. She had no identification and no money. It wasn't until she met a member of the Navy who believed her story and took her in that she found hope. He contacted the FBI and escorted her to a precinct, where an officer immediately took her case.

Not every survivor seeks law enforcement officials.

Von Oy said that in some ways the situation can be compared to domestic violence. It may take seven to eight tries to get an individual out of the situation due to the control factors involved, according to von Oy.

Additionally, for many, the idea of escape leaves them with questions about their basic survival needs.

After being beaten and trafficked around the West Coast, Richardson managed to flee her pimp in 2000. But even once she escaped, she knew no other way to make money except to take part in commercial sex acts. She continued to work in various forms of the sex industry on her own until she found herself pregnant, according to Richardson.

Richardson's experience after fleeing her pimp is not unique. Many survivors find themselves with a lack of services and resources once they escape their enslavement.

Survivors who have a record of prostitution have very limited job opportunities once they escape. Additionally, if there is a record of prostitution, they cannot seek victim compensation, according to Baden.

Under state law, even when a survivor is identified by the FBI as a victim, their record is not cleared of prostitution charges.

In April, legislators introduced a bill to try to correct legislation surrounding human trafficking. H.B. 6696 seeks to expunge the prostitution records of sex-trafficking survivors and enforce stronger penalties for johns.

Earlier in the month, 55 female legislators joined in bipartisan support of H.B. 5666, which targets the pockets of traffickers with stronger profit and property forfeiture guidelines. Under this bill, third-degree prostitution and third-degree promotion of prostitution would be added to the list of crimes subject to forfeiture.

"The law needs to get better and better and better. It takes time," Woworuntu said.

Woworuntu advocates for human-trafficking shelters for those who have nowhere to go. She remembers being put in a domestic violence shelter where men and women were mixed. She says shelters should have a 24-hour therapist on duty who is versed in human trafficking.

"A survivor has trauma usually at the nighttime, the trafficker put them in the streets at night, it is trauma (that) comes at night," Woworuntu explained.

Marji Vitale, clinical director of youth and family services at the Bridge Family Center in West Hartford, said it is important for a therapist to have the background in treating trauma. In regard to a background on sex trafficking, Vitale sees some importance in that, too.

"If a therapist doesn't have an understanding of why a person would stay in that situation, they might not understand ... why they didn't just leave, and they might not understand the psychological hold offenders can have over their victims," Vitale said.

Von Oy agreed that services for survivors is a key component to healing. She says medical professionals that know how to work with survivors of trafficking, along with sensitivity about the wording used, will be important in treatment.

Von Oy explained that educational services, such as General Education Development programs, will help survivors obtain jobs and understand what they are capable of beyond commercial sex.

Richardson is now an advocate for abolishing human trafficking.

Woworuntu settled in New York City and works with children with disabilities. Woworuntu has two children, 16 and 6. She says she spends a large portion of her time fighting human trafficking, including labor trafficking.

"Working 24 hours, in sex trafficking ... was like hell," Woworuntu said. "That was not what you want. That is not what you think is the right thing. I didn't know what trafficking was, but what I know, it wasn't right, it wasn't my dream."
Call Rachel Chinapen at 203-789-5714. Correction: Woworuntu was 24-years-old, not 23, when she was trafficked.

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Human trafficking a United States problem, even in Connecticut

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During the day, Shandra Woworuntu was forced to service men at a brothel tucked away in New London. At night, she was driven to hotels in Connecticut and forced to service more men. Woworuntu was brought into the United States from Indonesia under false pretenses.