When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America

Many cases go unreported, making it a difficult crime for law enforcement personnel to spot.


How do you identify a sex-trafficking victim? How do you find the estimated 1.5 million trafficking victims in North America when such cases go largely undetected or unreported?
It’s an issue with which law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. continually struggle. Detective Bill Woolf with the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force has experienced this first hand. Over the course of his tenure, he’s interviewed over 300 victims. In many cases, those who have been exploited believe that they are offenders, Woolf told me. “They fear law enforcement…because they’re technically committing a crime and that is prostitution,” he said.

• Priscilla Alvarez
• 10:07 AM ET for The Atlantic reports here

Federal, Local Prosecutors Dealing With Human Trafficking Problem

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz was in Springfield Tuesday morning, to announce the formation of a new task force designed to combat the problem of human trafficking. Joining Ortiz for the announcement at U.S. District Court in Springfield was Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

Read 22News WWLP.com reports here

Carson City man sentenced for human trafficking in North Dakota

A Nevada man accused of bringing a 16-year-old girl to North Dakota for prostitution has been sentenced to about eight months in prison.

Read more here

Efforts To Prevent Human Trafficking Underway In San Diego

Truckers Against Trafficking links a great article from California.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors backed efforts to work with schools and the hotel industry to report human trafficking across the region.

Read more here