VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Florida woman is being held inside the Virginia Beach Jail on human sex trafficking charges. Now, she is speaking out about the accusations against her to the News 3 investigative team.
On March 6, Virginia Beach police were called to a hotel at the Oceanfront for domestic violence.
A search warrant states that they encountered a woman who said she had allegedly been forced into human sex trafficking by a 38-year-old woman from Florida. Three days later, police arrested that suspect in Hampton.
News 3's Margaret Kavanagh met up with her at the Virginia Beach Jail. She denies the accusations.
"I was not sex trafficking anybody. It was a friend of mine and we were both prostituting," she said.
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She admits she's worked as a prostitute for years, but says she's not a trafficker. She says she herself knows what it's like to be trafficked and the violence that goes along with it. WTKR does not identify people who say they've been victims of human trafficking.
"It's not something I would wish on anybody to do. I haven't done anything to them by force, ever," she said.
Court records state that she had been to New York, Virginia and Florida for prostitution. She says she's been all over the United States over the past 15 years.
"I have been trafficked through many states in this United States, like multiple states. Probably like 36 states I've been to, prostituting," she said.
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Nonprofit Samaritan House helps survivors locally. They say Hampton Roads is a hub for human trafficking, ranking 15th in the nation for trafficking cases.
"We are seeing a lot of forced prostitution and sex trafficking in our hotels and motels," said Robin Gauthier, Samaritan House Executive Director.
She says traffickers will move victims from place to place.
"If they can move them, they're less likely to get caught," said Gauthier. "So we really need the public [to know] that if something looks strange or doesn't look right in a hotel or motel, please tell someone... make a report to a tip line."
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Samaritan House is opening a place for trafficked youth called The Hallows hopefully by this fall.
Gauthier says the idea came after a 14-year-old survivor showed up at their facility detoxing from drugs several years ago.
"She had five sexually transmitted diseases in her throat. That's how sick she was. I said, we have to do something about that. That's what motivated me to build The Hallows," said Gauthier.
We have a local human trafficking task force in Hampton Roads. You can report suspicious activity to police or the National Human Trafficking Hotline. We have more information on our website.
AVAILABLE RESOURCES:
For more information on resources recommended by the Hampton Roads Human Trafficking Task Force, click here.
For more information on the help Samaritan House provides, click here. If you're experiencing violence, Samaritan House has a 24/7 hotline at 757-430-2120.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is also available 24/7 at 888-373-7888. The hotline has tips on how to get help, report a tip and more are available here.
