Within the fight against sex trafficking and the most targeted victims

ST. LOUIS – Two recent sex trafficking busts – one at the Renaissance Hotel in April 2023 and another at the River City Casino last February – reveal a pattern.

The hotel case involved missing teenagers from foster care in Texas. The casino case involved a minor who lived in a children’s home.

Cindy Malott of Crisis Aid International told us, “The national statistics really reflect what we are seeing in St. Louis, where approximately 78-80% of human trafficking survivors have spent time in foster care, adoptive care, or in residential placement.”

Crisis Aid has offices in many police forces in the region where it provides support to victims. A seminar on ‘Empowering Action’ was held at Mercy Hospital on Friday. It was about knowing what to look for and how to intervene. In attendance were police officers, medical professionals and service providers.

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Malott said, “I don’t think it’s ever too invasive to say, ‘Are you OK? Are you safe? Do you need anything?’”

Retired Sergeant. Adam Kavanaugh added: “You have to look outside that bubble because there are people who need help.”

Kavanaugh warned not to intervene if someone in need is near others. He said don’t hesitate to call the police if something isn’t right.

Kavanaugh said, “You don’t want to put yourself in a dangerous position by intervening when the trafficker or someone else might be present with that person. You are endangering yourself, but you may also be endangering the victim.”

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Cynthia Hamilton from Crisis Aid added that the fight is not over if someone is rescued. She told us they need help learning independence.

“Creating opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have,” she said. “It is very easy for a human trafficking survivor to become revictimized if their basic needs are not met.”

Kavanaugh adds that there are no boundaries, as he said, “I lived in the Wildwood area years ago and my daughter’s boyfriend was trafficked. She also lived in Wildwood, so it could be someone from Wildwood. It could be someone from a country town. We’ve had them from Sikeston and also from these small, small communities, so it’s always not important that you don’t want to get involved until it’s your family member.

For more information about crisis assistance, please visit https://ussafe.org/.

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