[ human trafficking ]
Hidden in Plain Sight
Human Traf f ick ing in West Virginia
ANNA MOORE
Name any crime show and you will see they all play out the same way . There ’ s a beginning , middle and an end . There ’ s a back story , an investigation and at the end of the hour , the criminal is caught and arrested . Justice is served . Roll the credits . While we all love this type of ending , our reality is that not every real-life criminal is caught and not every victim is rescued . With a crime like human trafficking , this is certainly the case , and the victim ’ s pain and trauma can last an entire lifetime , whether justice is served or not .
In August of this year , the FBI made national headlines after it announced it had located 200 victims of sex trafficking during a nationwide enforcement campaign known as Operation Cross Country . The identification or arrest of 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses were made , and 68 suspects of trafficking were identified or arrested . While this is front-page newsworthy , we don ’ t know how many more child predators are out there or how many victims are waiting to leave , be rescued and be helped . We can focus on what we do know — human trafficking is a heinous crime that exploits the most vulnerable in society , and it ’ s a growing industry that needs to be stopped .
With its physical location within six hours of most of the U . S . population and with the socioeconomic challenges many here face , West Virginia is not without risk of human trafficking and child exploitation . The West Virginia Fusion Center ( WVFC ) has two analysts focusing on anti-human trafficking — Paula Yount , programs and law enforcement training coordinator , and Samantha Dial , human trafficking intelligence analyst . Throughout West Virginia , there
have been tips and investigations pertaining to sex trafficking , child sex trafficking — including familial — and labor trafficking . The WVFC analysts say that of the reported human trafficking tips , familial trafficking is the most common and may be a generational occurrence that has become normalized .
“ The most recent case in reference to familial trafficking involved a minor , their guardian / trafficker and a law enforcement officer who paid the trafficker for sex ,” Dial says .
Another case in 2023 that was brought to light involved an illicit massage parlor engaged in sex trafficking , and the victim had been smuggled across the U . S . border and brought into West Virginia .
The challenge with ending human trafficking crimes such as these is that cases are significantly underreported , making an accurate depiction of the issue nearly impossible . The common thread for human trafficking cases , however , is generally a vulnerability that leads to exploitation .
“ Most people are looking for the boogeyman in the alleyway lurking ,” says Angie Conn , founder , lead consultant and subject matter expert at SheWhoDares Consulting , LLC . “ A trafficker is very charismatic and will take the person they are grooming and get to know them . They will use their dreams , the things that make them laugh and the things that make them cry . Using all that information , a trafficker will string together a dream — the victim ’ s dream — and repackage it , then sell it back to them , and most of the time , it doesn ’ t take too much effort to convince them to buy into it . They ask the right questions to find the access points into a person ’ s life , and every human being has access points .”
40
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE