Advocates help victims, detail trends in human trafficking and sexual exploitation following Polk County bust
Alarming trends for human trafficking
Polk county?s latest hunt for predators ended in arrests and brought victims into supportive hands. Briona Arradondo reports.
LAKELAND, Fla. - Polk County’s latest hunt for predators ended in arrests and brought victims into supportive hands.
What we know:
Polk County’s "Operation Fool Around and Find Out Again" at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office ended with 246 suspects arrested and victims rescued.
"We’ve talked to over 70 people who were affiliated with this operation, and we really saw a historic number. Thirty-six have already signed on to services to try and get out of the life and cycle of sexual exploitation," said Jodi Domangue, the chief operating officer of One More Child in Lakeland.
One More Child said that it is a record number for people immediately signing up for services. The non-profit’s anti-trafficking program focuses on adults and children, and Domangue said their services made these latest victims feel comfort.
"We actually had survivors who felt comfortable enough after talking with our staff and the incredible detectives at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office that they started to reveal information and feel secure enough that they were able to go and apprehend their traffickers that very night," said Domangue.
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Big picture view:
The victims were as young as 17 to over 50 years old, and One More Child said advocates are seeing alarming trends, including an increase in children being trafficked.
"We have different applications now for different websites, like OnlyFans, where a child can be trafficked and not even be physically in the same room as someone else," said Domangue.
One More Child said they are also seeing trends of women being trafficked by their husbands and boyfriends. In this latest operation, advocates said they’re even finding more potential victims.
"In this operation, we had 10 individuals who had identified as potential victims of human trafficking. Now, we know there’s probably more than that," said Domangue. "Ten is a very high number for us in this operation that could already be identified as a potential victim."
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As for the suspects, more are willing to travel for sex with minors.
"We’re seeing more travelers. I mean 15 arrested in this operation is a very large number," Domangue said.
What's next:
One More Child said its goal is to connect victims with a better future and break the cycle of sexual exploitation.
"You saw 15 individuals who were willing to perpetrate on children. On the other side of that, you did see adult victims who were able to receive services in this operation. Those adult victims were child victims as well, I guarantee it," said Domangue.
One More Child said advocates connect victims with housing and jobs. They said they will follow up with the victims in this investigation in the days to come to share resources, and some even reach out for help weeks or months later.
The Source: The information in this story comes from One More Child and was gathered by FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo.