trafficking is part of the underbelly
the dirty underbelly of South Florida
the few people ever really talked about
but tonight one young survivor is
stepping out of the shadows she's
sharing what happened to her just a few
years ago on the streets of Miami most
of us never see and some never escape
local tens amoeba terry has the
exclusive let us say I want to go home
you're like oh if you want to leave I'll
kill you your family
it's a rare look inside the nightmare
endured by one sex trafficking survivor
sharing her story with the public for
the first time it's a case that made
national headlines in 2013
honestly I could've been dead a whole
terminal now six years after her rescue
that girl now a young woman who we're
calling Z is finally speaking out
exclusively to local 10 I was a runaway
and I was given bloody food like our
school she was only 13 years old a
frequent runaway not getting along with
her mom she ended up hanging out at flea
market USA in Northwest miami-dade it
was there that she met Roman Thomas a 26
year old who asked if she wanted to hang
out and took her to the motel shores at
105th and Biscayne Boulevard and Thomas
didn't waste any time she says as soon
as he got her to the motel he had her
change into skimpy clothing took photos
of her and began shopping her on
backpage.com
within hours she says she was being told
to have sex for money
her trafficker Thomas and his accomplice
Shanti Rhea Sanders spent her drugs and
alcohol to keep her compliant beating
her when she said she wanted to go home
she slapped me hip push me don't take me
right choke me
that's when Z says he took her back to
the flea market this time to have
someone tattoo his pimp name on her
eyelids branding the delicate skin with
the words Suave's house and it told the
world you're nothing you are mine police
arrested Thomas and Sanders after Z's
mother learned where she was
she says her first instinct was she was
in trouble breaking down when officers
assured her it wasn't her fault
when I hear stuff like that I start
crying
because I think they are still fight I
did something wrong her story shocked
the South Florida community including
miami-dade state attorney Katherine
Fernandez Rundle she says these ordeal
mobilized them to learn more about
trafficking and paved the way for more
convictions and now we have we have had
over 580 filed criminal cases Rundle
says 40% of the victims her office
encounters are under the age of eighteen
sixty percent of the victims are local
while walking ATM machine and that's how
these guys look at them there's they
don't see a personality they don't see a
soul a heart they don't see tears thomas
is now serving a 20-year prison sentence
sanders got probation but 4z the trauma
didn't end there she endured more
bullying because of those permanent
tattoos years later she says a local
doctor stepped up and removed them at no
cost
but another agonizing procedure it was a
painful boys relief laser surgeon and
then stitch your Island yes her case
prompted Rendell's office to lobby to
make state law very clear it's now a
felony to permanently brand or tattoo a
victim in Florida then I knew that
that's where I wanted to get involved
business owner amor Sierra says it was
Z's story that inspired her to buy a
tattoo shop our main focus is to help
human trafficking survivors where we can
cover up those tattoos that are put on
them her shop in Miami Beach partners
with different agencies to help
survivors cover up ink that can be a
painful reminder or worse put survivors
in danger it's so important to cover up
that tattoo not just to give the the
survivor a new life but to also protect
them so that that old tattoo can't be
identified and their life could be at
risk
Z now has an eight month-old daughter of
her own and says after years of therapy
she's still healing her message to other
survivors is the same thing she still
tells herself daily don't blame yourself
it's not your fault ami Viteri local 10
News
focus on human trafficking is growing as
South Florida prepares for the Super
Bowl next year the Women's Fund in
miami-dade started a campaign using
signs on billboards and buses to
encourage and raise awareness head of
the big event the State Attorney's
Office is warning anyone coming here to
buy sex that they will prosecute