Human trafficking is classified as the fastest growing criminal industry in
the world with millions of victims worldwide and master manipulators,
coerce people from all walks of life to engage in.
What FBI Norfolk's director describes as modern day slavery.
But how big of a problem is it in Virginia?
New at six. Sarah Hammond is digging into that.
It's a crime that can hide in plain sight in a hotel, a car online in your own bedroom.
A lot of times the victims are walking
among us with $150 billion.28 million victims worldwide.
It's a criminal industry. Special agent in charge. Brian
Dugan has spent years investigating with the FBI. I
mean human trafficking is modern day slavery.
Someone is working somebody over for their own financial gain.
It's a life. Olivia spent 15 years trying to escape. He
was
supposed to be
dating a man she met on Facebook turned into her captor for about two years.
I stayed with him being abused in trafficked out of
multiple hotels, strip clubs.
She escaped to Virginia before falling in with another
man who coerced her into sex work again.
A pattern
Dugan says is a common one.
The traffickers are master manipulators either
through romance or through threat.
How much of a problem is human trafficking in our area?
It probably happened more than we like to think.
According to the National Human Trafficking hotlines database,
more than 10,000 cases were identified in
2021 involving close to 17,000 victims nationwide.
140 of those cases were in Virginia.
This is a crime that happens in plain sight in almost every community
of rural, suburban or
Virginia. Attorney General, Jason Mijares
says these criminals are hard to catch on a global scale.
The vast vast majority of victims are never actually identified.
And that's part of what's heartbreaking.
Dugan says so much of their success in finding and
prosecuting these traffickers comes from their victims speaking up.
So we've actually
lost cases or not attempted cases
where the victims either
don't want to cooper
or it would re traumatize them to cooper.
The biggest thing is finding the victims and getting them out of the lifestyle.
The investigations come second. But Mijares
and
Dugan say their offices are trying hard to change that. On the FBI side.
Dugan says they're always online watching.
We have a thing called operation cross country and
that's a surge where the FBI takes the lead
and for two days or a week,
we and all our partners do nothing but either
laws or we go out and address cases that we know statewide Governor Glenn Yan
created a human trafficking task force.
New laws now make training to spot trafficking mandatory for college freshmen
and certain businesses like hotels within the last two years.
A law allowing affirmative
for trafficking victims was passed as well as a VAC
law that means certain convictions for trafficking
survivors could be wiped from their record.
Olivia is the first trafficking survivor in Virginia to
benefit with misdemeanor prostitution charges expunged from her record.
A sign she's starting over.
I
know
that
it's the only thing that you'll ever be able to do or you'll never,
ever get out of it or you'll never have a normal life.
But I'm living proof that you can. Sarah Hammond 13 News now
and something. Both Attorney General, Jason Mire
and special agent in charge Brian Dukan
say helps more than people realize is if you see something, say something,
they say tips from people just like you are invaluable.
If you see someone who does not have control over their own
documents showing signs of abuse withdrawn or even branding on their skin,
they ask you to take note and let law enforcement know.
Ok.