when teens fall victim does sex
trafficker is it usually takes a village
of law enforcement officers and agencies
to pull them from the grasps of their
abusers tonight we hear from local and
federal officers who focus exclusively
on busting sex trafficking rings that
operate in their jurisdictions often
local agencies will partner with the FBI
to enhance their enforcement operations
due to the sensitive nature of this
report viewer discretion is advised the
victims are are truly the victims in
this I took an oath many years ago to
protect the weak to protect the most
vulnerable around us Pasco County
Sheriff's corporal Alan Wilkin leads the
charge against sex trafficking in the
Tampa Bay area in Florida a tourist
destination he's rescued countless
victims from harrowing lives of abuse
and rape when you see the brokenness
that it puts into these small girls
small boys and adult men and women as
well you realized that unless we work
together to really get this done we're
gonna see a lot more broken lives will
KITT and his deputy like other local
agencies across the country try to stop
trafficking by keeping a keen eye on the
highways if a trafficker is getting his
victim from one place to another he
brings him to Tampa so he's going to use
the i-4 corridor in fact those corridors
are so hot with human trafficking
activity that at times we put together
task force just to attack those
corridors Tampa is a destination city
but you don't need tourist attractions
to bring sex traffickers through your
town nearly every stretch of road in the
country is a potential pipeline for sex
slavery the trafficker also depends on
the high volume on the highway as well
because now they can just kind of blend
in with the masses that are moving
I think we made a significant difference
as far as sex trafficking Toledo Ohio
police detective Peter Schwartz works
full-time to combat sex trafficking in
his community he coordinates efforts
with the FBI and has become an expert in
the arena
the Predators depends the traffickers
are getting substantial sentences from
Tampa to Toledo Schwartz says
traffickers transport their victim from
city to city on the highways to avoid
detection they were on the way to
Florida Atlanta Georgia
you know Orlando Tampa we know some of
victims end up there and some of our
traffickers are end up there I think
more of the fact that all these other
young women and young girls that I have
not yet home I think that's what drives
me
Brian Gander an FBI Special Agent joined
the sex trafficking unit at the FBI's
New York field office because the work
is so stressful the images they track
online are so heinous and the victims
often so young Gander and everyone in
this unit volunteers for the job once
you see what is actually going on it's
almost impossible to not do it
I have three things hanging on the wall
in my cube one is of my family and the
other two are drawings by little young
ones that were victims kids moving
victims there are instances where we
will do the operation cross country even
a standard run-of-the-mill case so to
speak you might be an agent or detective
in South Carolina and your operation
recovers a victim from somewhere in the
Northeast a system director in charge of
the FBI's New York field office William
Sweeney leads a task force that focuses
specifically on sex trafficking he and
his team have broken up operations
across the region what are you fighting
to accomplish these are true victims
these are the most vulnerable in society
what are we trying to accomplish
we're gonna we're gonna try to rescue
them we're gonna try to put the people
that exploit you we're going to lock you
up for a long time and we'll be right
back