Human trafficking can start online
The San Antonio Crimes Against Children Squad of the FBI (CACS) gave a presentation to a full audience of educators, first responders, parents and residents on a serious topic - threats to children through the Internet.
The Sept. 25 discussion at St. Joseph's Halle focused on predators reaching children mostly through social media and online gaming.
Brent Ives, executive director of the Hill Country Crisis Council, said at the Kerrville Child Advocacy Center (which also oversees Gillespie County), they have not worked a specific case of human trafficking. But, he added, that could mean it's "not being reported, uncovered or identified:'
In one day, the FBI found 6,374 ads for one-day escorts in the Hill Country, said Jeffrey Allovio, FBI Task Officer and former Special Agent of 40 years. This included in Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Comfort and Harper.
"The majority of these escorts were advertising young, young kids;' Allovio said.
Local law enforcement was unable to confirm with the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post any instances of human trafficking in the last year.
Fredericksburg Police Department's Criminal Investigator Terry Weed said, "We don't have numerous - if any - cases like that."
But only a fraction of all cases of trafficking are reported, Special Agent Larry Baker said at the event. "Children would rather suffer in silence;' Baker said.
A 2017 study conducted by the University of Texas estimated 79,000 minors are victims of human trafficking in Texas every year and federal investigators believe there are about 500,000 predators active each day, with multiple online profiles.
More than 50% of identified victims are ages 12-15, and somewhere between 90-95% of defendants are people the victims already knew, Allovio said.
Human trafficking has many faces, none of which are unknown to Texas. The two main categories, established by the Department of Homeland Security, are labor and sex trafficking. Child labor, domestic servitude, "sextortion" (the act of threatening to share nude or explicit images) and sex and labor trafficking all fall under these categories.
Sex trafficking is the "graphic documentation of the crime scene and people;' according to FBI Special Agent Rex Miller.
Human trafficking is often incorrectly conflated with smuggling, which is a border violation, the FBI reported.
"It is a personal violation. It's a violation of an individual;' Allovio said. " It has nothing to do with international at all. It is not geographical. It is in every zip code:'
Social media and online gaming
"Does your child have one of these devices;' Allovio asked, waving his phone in the air. "This is the key."
Allovio said 89% of victims are contacted via chat rooms and instant messaging apps, according to federal investigators, and the Internet was reported as the top recruitment location.
These instances include watching streamers who play video games, in Discord, an app advertised as a place to "chat and hang out;' and other internet games where players can message and talk to each other.
Predators build trust with their victims through messaging, before asking for explicit images and videos which they eventually may upload to a server or send to group for others across the world to view. The FBI reported seeing a 2,000% increase in the amount of child pornography on the internet in the last 10 years.
When the child is resistant, the predators will threaten the child, the investigators said. They played an audio recording of a predator threatening the lives of a victim's family.
"My worst case I ever worked was a subject that was on Kik. That was the first time I thought, man, I may need to quit this for a while;' Miller said at last week's event.
Kik., a social platform used for messaging, does not require a phone number to create a profile. The app includes chatrooms called Flirt! and Match & Chat, which are meant to be used for conversation.
''A lot of kids use these types of apps to communicate and they can share files back and forth. Snapchat is a big one;' Miller said.
"We want to empower our kids to have an idea to know what to do;' Allovio said, sharing numerous slides of closed cases he worked on.
Predators he shared with the audience included a pastor, a licensed daycare worker, a 19-year-old son of a National Security Agent supervisor (using an NSA computer) and a church youth leader and former Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader.
The members of CACS said predators are "master manipulators," targeting victims looking for love, acceptance, adventure and protection.
"The child actually thinks that they have some kind of perceived freedom, which is not freedom at all;' said Chae Spencer of Mercy Gates Ministry, a center helping women being sex trafficked.
"We definitely need to be paying attention;' Weed said.
"While child predators are often stereotyped, they come from many different walks oflife - men and women across all ages, income levels and ethnicities," said a spokesperson with CACS.
"When we talk about sextortion we're just dealing with kids, but it's happening also with adults, too;' Allovio said about his squad's operations. "The penalties for if an adult is victimized versus a child under the age of 18 are far different."
There were 2,115 arrests related to human trafficking in Texas in the 2022 fiscal year, not including federal arrests.
Citizen aid
According to Spencer, about 90% of predators were exploited as a child and are repeat offenders in the court system.
Karla Solomon, a human trafficking survivor, said that of the victims and survivors, many grew up in homes where there were issues of drug and sexual abuse.
At the event, the FBI shared two cases of women exploiting their children, in addition to others they found online.
"It's important for people to understand that they're not always men," Solomon said. "That happens more than we'd like to admit around here, honestly:'
Spencer, the founder and executive director of Mercy Gate, found Solomon by way of ministry. Solomon now works for Mercy Gate as director of outreach and training, where she attends schools
- recently Tivy High School -and organization meetings across the state.
Spencer worked in ministry for several decades and began Mercy Gate because she felt there needed to be more direct action for survivors outside of the church.
"More people need to do whatever they can to combat [human trafficking];' Trey Blocker, local activist for human trafficking awareness and owner and CEO of Salvation Spirits Distillery said. ''A lot of that has to do with awareness."
Blocker donates IO% of his net profits from Chi Rho Barrel-Aged Gin sales to Mercy Gate Ministry and Atlas Rescue, a nonprofit organization conducting operations by special operations veterans. The group was founded by a Green Beret who is keeping the Green Beret motto at the core of their business: "Free the oppressed:'
"It really is such a massive problem - and such a disturbing problem - that there should be more attention and effort and money (for that matter), focused on solving the problem," Blocker said.
Blocker worked with Rep. Ellen Troxclair of Gillespie, Blanco, Burnet, Kendall and part of Travis counties on legislation that would have enabled humanitarian rescue groups to partner with law enforcement agencies to gather intelligence for law enforcement to "help bring down traffickers and rescue people:'
''At the end of the day, once people become aware of a problem, I just hope they feel compelled to act;' Blocker said. "It's going to take a united effort to really solve the problem if we can ever actually solve it:'
Red flags and safety suggestions
Although every instance of human trafficking is unique, common warning signs in minors include relationships with people older than them, secretive relationships and drastic changes in demeanor or look.
Safety suggestions from the FBI include monitoring phones, tablet computers and computers, taking possession of devices at night, knowing your child's passwords and being sure children know to never use social media to make friends, keep their profiles on private settings and that inappropriate images and posts can be a risk in their life forever.