Jones, who is currently serving 12 years in prison, warns in the interview about how dangerous the streets of America really are, and how rampant child prostitution is in the "Land of the Free". And he has fine points to make. Just this 2015, Milwaukee, Wisconsin was dubbed as a go-to destination for sex trafficking in America, tying for third place with Las Vegas, Nevada.
Other major cities such as Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; and Portland, Oregon were also contenders for the top spots.
According to Washington, D.C.-based think tank Urban Institute, sex trafficking generates millions of dollars, noting in a 2014 study that the earnings from this industry ranged from $39.9 million to $290 million in 2007 alone.
But this money comes at a cost – exploitation of lives, most of them young. “Human trafficking is the exploitation of vulnerabilities,” said Rachel Parker, anti-trafficking manager for World Relief of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Parker mentions a 2012 statistic from the International Labor Organization that states that 20.9 million individuals are being trafficked all over the world today, but even more of significance to Parker is the fact that 90 percent of them were identified – and sometimes rescued – by individuals and private businesses, in cooperation with law enforcement.
“That helps me see what it looks like more on a local level because, who are individuals in private businesses? People in my community,” she said.
According to numbers collected by the Triad Response Team and the National Human Trafficking Hotline, the age range for trafficking tips in Winston-Salem is as follows: nine percent were identified as minors; 36.5 percent range between the ages of 18 and 25; another 36.5 percent are of ages 26 to 40; nine percent are older than 40; and the last nine percent is unknown.
People who were identified to being more vulnerable to trafficking were those that had crippling addictions, victims of prior abuse, the homeless or those provided housing by their employers, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people who did not know how to speak English, or those that had vast amounts of debt.
Recent trafficking arrests
Twenty-six-year-old Willie Columbus Lacy, of 314 North Swing Road in Greensboro was taken into custody on April 1, 2017 and charged with trafficking in persons, recruiting, enticing, soliciting, harboring, transporting, or attempts – first offense.
In the same manner, 24-year-old David Davell Ward, of 5416 Friendly Manner Drive in Greensboro was also arrested on April 1, 2017 for first offense trafficking in persons, recruiting, enticing, soliciting, harboring, transporting, or attempts. He also received contributing to the delinquency of a minor and first offense prostitution. (Related: TSA manager arrested for running prostitution ring.)
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