CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WCNC) -- After two-sex trafficking cases in the last week in Charlotte, the headlines have some parents feeling a little paranoid. So, NBC Charlotte wanted to break down the facts. Who is the most vulnerable? And where are the places most people fall victim?
We’ve all heard the statistic, Charlotte ranking 8th highest in the nation for the number of human trafficking cases, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
“People think it’s something that happens overseas, but it’s happening in our backyard,” Alexa Nagy said. Nagy is the Community Outreach and Development Coordinator, for Lily Pad Haven, an organization that cares for and helps rehabilitate victims of human and sex-trafficking.
This week alone, two sex-trafficking arrests. The first Sept. 14, when CMPD arrested 25-year old Patrick McManus outside the Captain D’s restaurant on Eastway Drive, after police say a 17-year-old victim ran there for help.
The second happened Tuesday in front of the Food Lion grocery store on Beatties Ford Road. CMPD arrested 59-year-old Gerrald Johnson in a sting, charging him with human trafficking and promoting prostitution.
So, who’s most at risk of falling victim?
“Vulnerable populations are targeted mostly, so you’ve got runaways, children who’ve grown up in dysfunctional homes, maybe people with drug addictions already or those who have been raped previously,” Nagy said.
She said the average age of victims is 11 to 13 for boys and 12 to 14 for girls.
To lure kids, Nagy said traffickers often use online chat rooms to build relationships and then ask the kids get to meet them in public. She also said traffickers tend to hang at malls, where they’ll lurk for hours approaching teens. Here in Charlotte, Nagy said Concord Mills and the Charlotte Transportation Center in Uptown are both hotspots.
“I would say it’s more common for people to groom the victims and lure them in than it is for them to be kidnapped,” Nagy said.
Nagy said the best thing parents can do, is to teach their kids to be weary of strangers, especially ones who offer them gifts, offer to take them out on dates, or promise love, marriage or companionship.
Advocacy groups like the Polaris Project said there are signs someone is a potential victim of human trafficking, saying they’ll have poor mental health or abnormal behavior, such as avoiding eye-contact or expressing fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid emotions.
They said victims may also have poor physical health, may appear malnourished or show signs of physical abuse.
As to how to spot traffickers, the organization says, “often the traffickers and their victims share the same national, ethnic, or cultural background, allowing the trafficker to better understand and exploit the vulnerabilities of their victims.”
The group FAST, Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking says recruiters can also be women and children the same age as the victim they’re targeting.
Officals say if you suspect someone is a victim to call 911 right away and do not attempt to confront a suspected trafficker directly or alert a victim to your suspicions.
To get help from the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH), call 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733).