COVER STORY: Fighting human trafficking

Trafficking Fighting human in Northwest Florida

By Magi Thomley Williams

Human trafficking has gained a lot of attention recently, but it has been going on a long time. Most of us believe it doesn’t exist in our neighborhoods, but we are wrong; human trafficking is pervasive and well hidden in Northwest Florida communities.

Trafficking has many faces: • A young man enlisted in the U.S. military is afraid he will be discharged because of compromising photos taken of him without his knowledge. He is blackmailed for almost all his monthly income by someone he has never even met except on the internet. • A young girl is enticed into a relationship on social media by someone who befriends her and gives her expensive purses and jewelry. That person then threatens that he will harm her younger sister if the girl doesn’t provide nude photos demanded of her. • A woman has no other option except to perform sex acts for money so she can provide food, clothing and shelter for her children. • A teenager whose family sends him from South America to take a promised job in the U.S. When he arrives, he learns that he must pay $250,000 for his freedom by turning over 90 percent of his weekly minimum wage paycheck to his abductor. • A child must steal from local retailers and sell drugs to schoolmates in order for a relative to allow her to continue sleeping in his home when she has nowhere else to go.

All of these are real examples of human trafficking right here in Northwest Florida. Shocking, right?

Sergeant Jason Comans, who leads the Missing Persons Unit of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, identifies and intervenes on behalf of kids who are at risk to become trafficked. He shares that he works with numerous agencies, including Department of Children and Families, Gulf Coast Kid’s House, Call to Rescue, Escambia Search and Rescue and multiple faith-based agencies to provide the best outcomes for victims. Sergeant Comans’s task force investigates perpetrators through information sharing, intelligence sharing and arrests when appropriate.

Community organizations like NISSI, Magdalene’s House, Gulf Coast Kid’s House and others provide resources to the victims to

“Law enforcement gets the perpetrator off the street. Prosecutors put them in jail for as long as possible. Service providers help make the victim whole again. We really need funding – a community response of pouring into service providers and nonprofits, wherever their needs are. That is where victims get their healing.”

— Gretchen Busbee, victims witness specialist for the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida

help victims with their recovery and restoration. Officers have received training on how to interact with victims and recognize when they are stealing or selling themselves because they are being coerced and to understand that the victim may not have a choice in using drugs or engaging in other criminal activities.

Often, teens are drawn into trafficking through social media. Abusers find teens who need something, who are lonely, who need money, who need affirmation. They fill the gap, then set the hook. Teens become afraid or embarrassed to tell a parent, or they may feel they are protecting their family or a younger sibling from threats made by the perpetrator.

Residents in our area are fighting back against sex and labor trafficking. Real estate professionals Terry Mahoney and Lindy Hurd came together to create an annual Human Trafficking Summit in Northwest Florida. Attendees hear how to spot the signs of a human trafficking victim, real stories of rescue and redemption, the reality of what human trafficking is and how close it is to home.

Sara LaFevers, president and CEO of the NISSI Project, reports that Network of Immediate Services for Survivors International provides immediate care for victims up to seven days and works with a network of aftercare longterm providers for victims of human trafficking. Reportedly, ninety percent of the time a victim is arrested for stealing, drug abuse or other crimes.

“Sometimes a survivor is given a list of resources or a hotel voucher,” LaFevers said. “The trauma a person experiences limits them to mental and emotional states at the age where the abuse started. You can’t expect a twelve- or fourteen-year-old to navigate life. To have people come alongside them to help them navigate resources will be a game changer.”

NISSI is unique in the entire state of Florida and is being looked at as a pilot for potential expansion throughout the state.

Magdalene’s Gifts and Gatherings is a gift shop with profits going to fund care for those who have been trafficked. The shop is now located in what once was a massage parlor where women were trafficked. The massage parlor was raided in 2019 and the business owner was convicted, paving the way for the space to be repurposed. Nearby residents were shocked to learn that they had been driving past the building daily, ignorant to the abuse.

“It was a God thing – the incident triggered something in people’s hearts. We didn’t know the scope of human and sex trafficking,” Josie Cotti of Magdalene’s House said.

The same building that was trafficking victims now helps provide revenue for Magdalene’s House, a place for victim recovery. Magdalene’s House offers counseling to help make victims whole after their abuse and resources for women who need to move out of the area for their safety.

Compassionate, Comprehensive Family Law Representation

PROTECTING YOU SO YOU CAN MOVE FORWARD

127 Palafox Place, Suite 100, Pensacola • (850) 466-3115 • Autumnobeck.com

LOCAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS

• Set Free Refuge, 850-463-5191, setfreerefuge.org • Pensacola Dream Center, 850-6070453, pensacoladreamcenter.org • FavorHouse, 850-434-1177, favorhouse.org • Magdalene’s House, 850-3848169, magdalenes.org • Saving Grace Women’s Home, 833-472-2335, savinggracewh.com

RE-ENTRY PROGRAMS

• Change Unchained, 855-262-2228, changeunchained.com • Bright Bridge Ministries, 850-9128383, brightbridgemnistries.org

NON-RESIDENTIAL SURVIVOR SERVICES

• Set Free Refuge, 850-463-5191, setfreerefuge.org • Health and Hope Clinic, 850-4794456, healthandhopeclinic.org • The NISSI Project, 850-206-8107, thenissiproject.org • Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, 850-436-9373, escambiaso.com • Children’s Home Society, 850-2662700, chsfl.org • Gulf Coast Kid’s House, 850-5955800, gulfcoastkidshouse.org • Ministry Village at Olive Baptist

Church, 850-473-4466, ministryvillage.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• National Human Trafficking Hotline, 888-373-7888 • University of West Florida Annual

Human Trafficking Summit:

“Online Exploitation & Staying

Safe.” 6 p. m., Jan. 19. For more information: facebook.com/ events/1193600844555884

WARNING SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

• Appearing malnourished. • Showing signs of physical injuries and abuse. • Avoiding eye contact, social interaction and authority figures/ law enforcement. • Seeming to adhere to scripted or rehearsed responses in social interaction. • Lacking official identification documents. • Minors with unexplained expensive designer items or electronics. TOP: Sara LaFevers, president and CEO of the NISSI Project, reports that Network of Immediate Services for Survivors International provides immediate care for victims up to seven days and works with a network of aftercare long-term providers for victims of human trafficking. ABOVE: Stacey Kostevicki is the executive director of Gulf Coast Kid’s House which houses multiple agencies involved in investigating, prosecuting and treating child victims of trafficking.

Photos by Kate Treick Photography

Each person is unique and their journey to find peace and healing is like a puzzle. Gretchen Busbee is a victims witness specialist for the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida.

“We can’t do the same thing for every single victim,” Busbee said. “It’s wonderful that so many people want to help, but not everyone is qualified, or ready. We don’t want to revictimize someone or put them through a program that isn’t suited to them.”

And then there are the perpetrators of the abuse. There is a misconception that not enough is done for victims by prosecutors, or there is an assumption that the victim always wants to be rescued. Some victims take a long time to be ready to leave the abuse, or they may never be ready.

While it’s hard to understand, victims may be in love with their abusers or may have found a level of security, even comfort, in knowing what is expected of them and what they can expect in return. Life outside those parameters may be even more terrifying than the life they experience at the hands of a trafficker. For these and other reasons, it’s difficult to get a conviction for trafficking. Alternatively, prosecutors have more success convicting and incarcerating traffickers for other crimes effectively ending the trafficking activities.

How can you help?

Learn to recognize signs of trafficking and report those to law enforcement. Don’t engage perpetrators or try to intervene as that might endanger the victim.

Make requests for services for victims to any of the local service providers. They work closely with each other to offer the best fit for someone who needs help.

Support the fight against human trafficking by donating to local nonprofit organizations providing services to victims. Shop at Magdalene’s Gifts and Gatherings and support events like Brunch and Bubbles and Fashioned 4 More that raise funds and awareness for service providers.

Volunteer for tasks that fit your skill set and training. Most people aren’t suited to counseling or direct services to victims but may volunteer at events or provide services such as housekeeping, maintenance, groundskeeping or meals for facilities and service providers.

“Law enforcement gets the perpetrator off the street. Prosecutors put them in jail for as long as possible. Service providers help make the victim whole again. We really need funding – a community response of pouring into service providers and nonprofits, wherever their needs are. That is where victims get their healing,” Busbee said.

To abusers, Cotti said, “We see you. We know you are here. We are not going to stop until you are not.”

To victims, she said, “We hear you, we know. We are here to help and bring change.”

Deb Atchison and Josie Cotti of Magdalene’s House in Gulf Breeze. There is also a gift shop with profits going to fund care for those who have been trafficked. The shop is now located in what once was a massage parlor where women were trafficked.

Photos by Kate Treick Photography