In Plain Sight
NOTE: This story contains content regarding human trafficking, sexual assault and child abuse.
Movies like Alejandro Monteverde’s recently released “Sound of Freedom” generate conversations around water coolers and family tables. Yet, many have grown accustomed—sometimes to the point of complacency— to seeing human trafficking headlines on the nightly news or in the Sunday paper.
They consider this abominable crime something that happens in far-flung locales or, at least, not close to home. However, according to Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Instructor Ricky Lynn, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Human trafficking is the second-largest criminal enterprise in the United States,” he said. “It’s one step below selling narcotics if you can picture how much money that is … this goes on every single day across Kentucky.”
Form and Function
There are two main trades within trafficking.
Forced labor can comprise, “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion,” according to federal definitions within the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act. Labor trafficking is often inflicted upon individuals, usually foreign nationals entering the United States, who may be offered extremely low wages and nearly uninhabitable living quarters in exchange for work in agriculture, at events, in restaurants, illicit massage parlors, etc., Lynn elaborated.
Commercial sex trafficking can include a sexual act, sexual performance or pornography. Often, children can be drawn into a trafficking scenario in exchange for something of value to them, said Lynn, noting a Kentucky case where a young teen was involved in a transaction in exchange for bottles of clean drinking water.
Human trafficking statutes also cover financial, reputational or any exploration or coercion, said Lynn, giving the example of a boyfriend threatening to distribute naked photos of his ex-girlfriend if she did not provide him with more.
Myths and Victims
There are many myths, conspiracies and rumors related to human trafficking. According to Lynn, it’s unlikely that a trafficker would snatch anyone off the street or from the mall. They aren’t going to put a zip tie on a car windshield and pull someone out of a parking lot. Instead, they prey on vulnerabilities and look for broken people in bad circumstances.
“Officers have got to ask different questions. It’s more of a quality of life and family question than a (typical) law enforcement question,” said Lynn. “You might assume someone has running water or a sewer. Maybe you shouldn’t. Law enforcement must broaden the scope of what an investigation includes, and that is happening now. Kudos to almost every human trafficking class I’ve taught here at DOCJT where someone has called afterward to say they are working a human trafficking case.”
Predators look for troubled homes, addiction, victims of child or sexual abuse, a parent in prison, or anything that would make someone want to run away or give them the perception that their trafficker is treating them better than where they came from.
Once, Lynn screened clients within a drug treatment center. Every single female within the facility said that at some point they had been forced to trade sexual acts in exchange for drugs.
“We forget this goes on vulnerabilities. It’s every gender and every race—everybody. If you are vulnerable, the traffickers are thinking about what they can exploit from you” he said.
Not Who You Think
While there are plenty of instances where trafficking is connected to notable crime rings, that is not always the case. Kentucky currently ranks sixth in the country for child abuse and near the top of states with the highest domestic violence incident rate. And sadly, traffickers of children often come in the form of parents or someone else connected to the home.
“Children don’t lie about sexual assault,” Lynn said. “There is rarely any reason a 10-year-old would say mom’s boyfriend or dad is sexually assaulting me. Could we have a 17-year-old who is mad and saying something out of spite? Maybe. But I would say most of them are telling the truth.”
Other things for officers to consider when determining if they have a human trafficking case on their hands are multiple runaway calls or children who are gone for more than 24 hours. Kids plan to run away, but they hardly ever think about how they will survive while they are gone. When the child is found, cops need to ask a lot of questions, such as how they paid for things and where did they stay. If someone is a runaway, they are running to something or from something, he added.
The long-time investigator recalled instances where children were forced to perform services by their father to financially provide for their family—and others who were sexually abused by a parent or family friend. These victims can fall into a pattern of Stockholm Syndrome or trauma bonding. They may continue to care about their trafficker. Lynn said officers should never badmouth a suspect to a victim as it might cause them to shut down and refuse to participate in interviews.
A Dangerous Connection
Just like ads for TV shows or restaurant chains, commercial sex ads can be found across the World Wide Web.
“Not the dark web, but the regular internet,” said Lynn. “There are hundreds of sites in Kentucky that you can buy people on.”
Within a few clicks, Lynn pulled up videos on social media advertising illicit services. These can be found on seemingly benign platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, he said.
Multi-player video games that allow participants to connect across the globe also provide a pathway for traffickers to attract individuals.
“Parents used to know who their kids were talking to,” said Lynn. “Technology has made it till your friends are not just the 10 people around you. You’re surrounded by the world, and we’re sending our kids to bed with a computer—a smartphone. At 3 a.m., will you know who your kid is chatting with?”
In this new digital world, criminals are using social media and law enforcement needs to step up its game by embracing technology, whether that’s the ability to search for evidence or ping mobile devices and IP addresses, Lynn advised.
More than Enforcement
Human trafficking cases can be taxing for officers and sometimes take about two and a half years to build. So why has Lynn devoted so much of his professional life to the cause? It’s personal---he’s a dad and each victim is someone’s child. By focusing on the humanity of each individual, he realized that victims, even those who get arrested for drugs or prostitution themselves, need tools to combat their struggles.
Through the years, Lynn has worked with several non-profits to help victims seek both medical and mental health treatment. Several have completed their programs and their friendship with the detective from their case has continued—even in the form of them sending text wishing him a happy Father’s Day.
Resources
The Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch partners with Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, which provides newly developed resources to help parents protect their kids online. Free tip sheets on internet safety, cyberbullying and gaming safety are available at pcaky.org and have been distributed statewide to organizations serving families and children. A free online training, “Electronic Crimes Against Children: How to Educate, Monitor, and Communicate Internet Safety,” is also available.
KSP has arrested 128 online predators since 2021 and has improved its digital forensic lab to help catch more child predators. Troopers can now complete any type of digital exam in-house, which helps them unlock cellular phones, computers and digital media used by suspected child predators.
Kentuckians should also be aware of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s takeitdown.ncmec.org website. This free service can help remove online sharing of nude or sexually explicit images or videos taken of a person when they are under 18 years old. To learn more about the free service, click here.
To report a suspected internet crime against a child, please contact the KSP Electronic Crimes Branch at 502-782-9769 or any KSP local post.
Additionally, the National Human Trafficking Hotline can be reach by calling 888-373-7888, texting 233733 or visiting its Human Trafficking Hotline Web Chat.
Since its inception, the hotline has received 3,796 signals, identified 920 cases of human trafficking, and identified 2,238 victims in Kentucky. Visit the National Human Trafficking Hotline website to learn how to recognize the signs of sex and labor trafficking.
As Attorney General, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office established itself as the leading agency in Kentucky’s fight against human trafficking. He created the Office of Child Abuse and Human Trafficking Prevention and Prosecution, and a historic level of child predators were arrested during his term. He also created the Survivors Council, which provided a way for survivors of violent crimes, including human trafficking, to advise and assist the office on matters related to victims of crime.
On Aug. 31, Gov. Beshear announced $27 million in grant funding from the Victims of Crime Act program, known as VOCA, to 114 crime victim service providers in Kentucky to respond to the emotional and physical needs of survivors and provide a much-deserved measure of safety and security.
In May 2021, Beshear released that a $1 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help the state address key findings of the University of Louisville Human Trafficking Research Initiative’s Project PIVOT: Prevention and Intervention for Victims of Trafficking, a two-year research project.
And in September 2021, Beshear announced that Operation United Front – a multistate human trafficking sting carried out by 29 agencies across Kentucky – had rescued 21 victims, including two minors, and yielded 46 arrests.
WRITER’S NOTE: Instructor Ricky Lynn has more than 43 years of active law enforcement experience and a resume that includes working in large metro areas, such as New York and Lexington, as well as working as a dedicated human trafficking detective for the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. He has been with DOCJT since 2022.
DOCJT offers a 40-hour course on human trafficking investigations called Criminal Exploitation of Adults and Minors, as well as covering the topic in basic training and various other in-service courses.
