South Lake Tahoe is not immune to Human Trafficking

This is part two in a series of a look into Human Trafficking in South Lake Tahoe.

Human trafficking. Its not just a Third World problem, its not just a big city problem, and its not a poor or rich problem. There are millions around the world who are victims to human trafficking, a business that is estimated to be a $32 billion industry.

And its happening in our backyard.

The facts are sobering.

- The average of a human that has been exploited is 13 years of age. They are being held against their will and are very afraid. These victims are not in the situation because it is their choice. The U.S. Department of Justice says the average age for females, domestic and international, entering prostitution in the U.S. is between twelve and fourteen years, and those older than twelve are leading targets for sexual exploitation by organized crime units. The FBI further explains that boys and transgender youth begin prostituting between the ages of eleven and thirteen on average.

- Today, nearly 12.3 million people, equal to nearly 1/3 of California’s total population, work in some form of forced labor worldwide. Of those, nearly 2.5 million are estimated to be victims of human trafficking.

- At any given time, there are approximately 10,000 forced laborers working in the US. Estimates show that between 14500 and 17500 victims are trafficked into the US every year. California is one of four top trafficking destination states in the US.

“When some people hear about sex trafficking in America they usually think of Asian and Eastern European women being brought into the states, but it’s actually ten times more likely for an American girl to be trafficked inside the U.S.," according to an ABC News report on a National Geographic undercover investigation of sexual slavery in the U.S. "Further, almost 300,000 American children are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry, according to U.S. Department of State statistics.”

Sacramento is among the top three cities in the United States for human trafficking, due in part to the intersection of several inter-state highways. Trucks and vehicles move freely along I-80 and I-5, Highways 50 and 99. Victims are transferred and transported without notice. And many of those victims end up in South Lake Tahoe to entertain clients of the traffickers. Numbers are hard to gather as most cases go unreported, due to shame on the part of the victim as well as the inability to get safely away from those that have taken them.

Areas where there is already legalized prostitution are also areas where it is easier to hide trafficked humans, according to Jane Flavin, Executive Director of Live Violence Free and a member of A PATH to Freedom, Partners Against Trafficking of Humans.

In El Dorado County there have been 30 identified cases of human trafficking. Five of those identified what happened to them as trafficking, while the other 25 never realized it.

Those that never realized what had happened to them are normally taken down a well planned out path by a manipulator that found the child ripe for taking. Many time the children are sad, perhaps don’t feel pretty enough, have a fight at home or don’t get the love and attention they desire. Then along comes an adult that fills those needs by telling them they’re beautiful. The adult starts to buy them gifts, makes them feel loved. This adult becomes what is known as a “Romeo,” and the child is now primed to become a human trafficking victim.

Of those involved in the sex trade, it is estimated that just three-percent choose to be there, like those making money working in the brothels. 35-40 percent are there because its survival sex. They need rent money, food, but they don’t want to be there. Their Romeo boyfriend has cultivated them to be in this group. Over 50 percent go to parties, get presents, guys pay attention to them, they're made to feel special then they’re passed around to everyone else at the party.

At Live Violence Free and Tahoe Youth and Family Services in South Lake Tahoe, victims go to those agencies for help because they know their secret is safe and they can get the help they need. But Flavin says her agency won’t see most of the local victims since this crime goes mostly unreported. The young victims, many of them male, are ashamed of what has happened to them.

In the news recently, a Reno resident John Thomas Abrams was convicted of kidnapping a 15-year-old boy and girl in California and taking them to Reno.

According to authorities, evidence and court records introduced to trial in July showed Abrams had kidnapped the girl and boy in the Sacramento area and held them for ransom. He then took them to Reno so the girl would engage in illegal sex acts. Abrams faces a minimum of 20 years in prison on the kidnapping charge, and 10 years on the transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity charge.

One doesn't have to look far for a local story of human trafficking with the 1991 kidnapping of South Lake Tahoe's 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard.

California's Attorney General Kamala Harris is focused on combating the pervasive issue of human trafficking in California and has made it one of her top priorities.

Learn more about what is being done locally in the next installment on human trafficking on South Tahoe Now.