Recently we brought you a story about Human Trafficking . It’s a form of slavery that still happens in current times. You may think that it’s not something that could happen to someone you know or it happens in other places but not here, however that’s simply not true.
Meet Annie (all names changed to protect the family’s privacy). She is an 18 year old girl from Spring Hill who has led an extraordinary life. Raised by loving, upper middle class parents who provided a stable home life and church life, Annie unwittingly became a pawn in a human trafficking scheme when she was only 15 years old.
It started innocently enough. She met Tre, an older boy who she thought was amazing. Annie was attracted to him and at first he was very attentive to her and very sweet. Tre made her feel special and they started spending lots of time together. She quickly became infatuated with him. Eventually Annie learned that Tre sold drugs, but she tried to look past it because she was falling in love with him and was hoping that it was a phase he would grow out of.
Even though Annie loved her Mom, stepdad, and new baby sister, she still missed her biological father. A few years prior, Annie had been diagnosed with BiPolar Disorder and had been on a roller coaster of prescription medications, counseling, and side effects. Around that time her father moved out of state to be with other family members. All of this led up to Annie feeling alone and regrettably she rebelled, choosing to hang out with the wrong people and get into minor legal trouble because of this new crowd.
Spending time with Tre made Annie feel special and not so alone. She started spending more time with him and less time with her family and friends. He completely spoiled her, randomly giving her expensive gifts and clothes. He paid for her manicures and took her out to expensive restaurants. Annie felt like a princess.
This is called the “Grooming Phase” of human trafficking. It is where the perpetrators take care of the victims and spoil them to gain their trust. The victim doesn’t suspect anything sinister is happening because they are enthralled and blinded by all the glitz and glamour. The victims are usually similar in that they all have low self-esteem and are desperately seeking approval from a more dominant father figure. This explains why someone as intelligent as Annie would fall for this scheme.
Tre slowly began asking Annie to do little favors for him and she always complied because he had been so good to her. Sometimes he would ask her to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and stay with him for a few days. She always did as he asked, which of course concerned Annie’s mother and caused numerous arguments, driving a wedge between them.
The favors Tre asked of Annie started getting bigger and more uncomfortable. He asked her to let him take naked pictures of her and even let his “friends” watch as they made love. He pressured her to try some of the drugs he was selling, took her along on his deals, and made her do some of the exchanges for him. Annie didn’t like doing these things but whenever she tried to say no, Tre degraded her, gave her a guilt trip, and even started hitting her. She started to believe that she really was worthless like he said and became afraid to lose him, so she usually complied with his orders. There were times where she wanted to ask for help, but she was afraid to admit to her mother what a mistake she had made, afraid to go to the police because she thought she might get in trouble for being with him while he committed crimes, and mostly afraid of what Tre would do to her if he found out that she snitched.
When Tre started pressuring her to sleep with his “friends” and sometimes even strangers, Annie got the courage to call her Mom and ask for help. Annie’s Mom was thrilled to hear from her because at the time Annie had escaped from a mental health facility and was missing for 6 days. Annie’s mom had filed a missing person’s report and tons of people across the state were looking for her. Since the police were involved, they were able to locate her quickly and bring her home. Tre took off of course, and the authorities never located him. Annie is so glad that she made it out of that situation. Years later, many of Tre’s “friends” were found to be a part of a prostitution ring. It was truly a miracle that she was able to get out. She is one of the lucky few who made it out alive. She wants to use her experience to warn others of the dangers of human trafficking and keep other young girls from falling for the alluring razzle dazzle of the grooming stage.