Human trafficking takes center stage at Hilton Head conference
Marlene Carson was only 15 years old when she was first sold for sex in New York City.
Lanie George was even younger.
George was first assaulted when she was only 3 years old growing up in North Carolina. In middle school, she was trafficked regularly at the strip club where her mother was also being controlled for sex.
But on Friday afternoon, both stood as proud survivors and founders of victims advocacy groups before more than 100 attendees of the 5th annual conference of the Lowcountry Coalition Against Human Trafficking on Hilton Head Island.
"We've got to change the way we look at these women," said George, who founded the Redeeming Joy nonprofit for other survivors and rescued her mother from sex trafficking 12 years ago. "We have been set free for one purpose: To help set other people free. Don't let a single moment of my testimony, of (Carson's) testimony, go to waste by not doing something."
Carson's and George's stories led an emotional day of presentations on human trafficking including ones by a cyber investigator, FBI officials, the documentary filmmaker Bob Bilheimer and state prosecutors.
They covered topics on how traffickers operate in South Carolina and online, how to spot possible instances of trafficking and submit tips and what steps area law enforcement are taking to curb the practice across the region.
But presenters focused as much on what trafficking is not in hopes of combating the mythology that it involves only immigrants, flamboyantly dressed pimps or drug-addicted prostitutes.
In reality, it is young girls -- typically only 12 to 14 years old -- who might never travel away from their community when being trafficked that comprise the majority of victims, said Camila Wright and Marie Sazehn, the assistant attorneys general in Georgia and South Carolina prosecuting human trafficking.
"As long as you have girls that are being abused, that are running away, don't have anyone there supporting them, then you have vulnerable girls that are ripe to be picked up, sold and trafficked," Wright said.
But human trafficking for sex or labor doesn't happen here in Beaufort County, some attendees suggested. No one has been prosecuted under South Carolina's 2012 trafficking laws from here and no news stories have linked those who have been convicted back to operations in Beaufort County.
This week U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announced eight men have been indicted in a human trafficking conspiracy in Columbia. On Tuesday, another Columbia man pled guilty for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and human trafficking after advertising her online.
But a scorecard of charges and convictions doesn't capture the full scope of the trafficking problem, said 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone and Sazehn. Although there are no active state investigations with local ties, there could be larger federal cases with an eye on the area because of trafficking in Savannah and Charleston, Sazehn said.
"Trafficking is transient by nature because of supply and demand," Sazehn said. "We are seeing traffickers move throughout the state and see connections county by county. I would not be surprised at all if there already are cases with ties down here."
The numbers of trafficking cases -- including some locally -- are certain to grow as investigators dig through more leads and complete pending investigations, law enforcement leaders said Friday.
The tide will turn as law enforcement dedicate more resources to the cause and the public becomes more aware of how to spot and submit tips, said Shannon Pillar, an investigator with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office. Pillar is perhaps the state's only full-time human trafficking investigator and works directly with Homeland Security on possible federal cases, he said.
Most importantly is the effort to raise awareness, said Bilheimer, who screened a portion of his film "Not My Life" about the global trafficking trade.
"There's an absolute requirement for awareness, for education, that this movement is sorely lacking," Bilheimer said. "We haven't reached critical mass, relative to what we did when we began to pass civil rights laws or bring down apartheid."
Working with community members and nonprofit groups like the Lowcountry Coalition Against Human Trafficking, investigators and prosecutors can begin to make headway.
"This is all I'm looking at every day," Pillar said. "But I'll be the first to tell you, I haven't scratched the surface ... It's a big problem in South Carolina.
"Take what you've heard today and do something with it," he told conference attendees. "Don't go throw something on Facebook tonight, talk about the travesty and then that's it. We need your help in law enforcement."
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook atfacebook.com/IPBGZach.
Related content:
- 8 people indicted on federal human trafficking charges, Jan. 15, 2016
- Man charged with human trafficking in Richland County, Jan. 13, 2016
- FBI tries new approach in Super Bowl sex trafficking fight, Jan. 12, 2016
This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Human trafficking takes center stage at Hilton Head conference."