Officials from several Dayton-area suburbs, including Washington Township, Huber Heights and Oakwood were invited to a presentation by Be Free Dayton on sex trafficking at the Eintracht Singing Society on Old Troy Pike Wednesday night.
Be Free Dayton is a non-profit dedicated to the abolition of modern-day slavery.
Be Free Dayton’s research shows that sex traffickers do not discriminate — especially now that sex trafficking primarily occurs online, Folks said
"As a society, we totally judge them, right? Those women," Folks said. "And their traffickers tell them, 'nobody loves you but me.'"
What some do not realize, she explained, is that many of the women, and men, for sale in the Miami Valley today were first sold for sex at 11 or 12 years old. It is all they have ever known.
“I’ve heard traffickers brag: ‘I broke that kid for two happy meals,’” Folks said, shaking her head.
The University of Toledo estimates about 1,076 children are trafficked every year. That means that, in Ohio, a child is four times more likely to be sold for sex than die in a motor vehicle accident or be abducted by a stranger.
“We’ve all had the seat belt conversation and the stranger danger conversation,” Folks said. “At Be Free Dayton, we say this is just another issue to add to your plate of awareness.”
Huber Heights council member Jan Vargo had seen Wednesday’s presentation once before; she said the statistics were just as appalling the second time around.
“It is something going on in our communities that many of us are not aware of,” Vargo said. “And awareness is always the first step in treating a problem.”
Riverside’s mayor, Bill Flaute, agreed. “I had heard that (sex trafficking) is a concern in our city because of the I-70, I-75 interchange but I didn’t realize that it’s as large an issue as what it is. We need to get these folks out talking to everyone.”
Last year, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office hired Detective Melanie Phelps-Powers to focus exclusively on human trafficking in the Miami Valley.
Folks described the partnership between Be Free Dayton and the Sheriff’s Office as so innovative that “within the next two years, I guarantee you, people will be coming here to see how we do it.”
Be Free Dayton will host an outreach program on March 14, the weekend before the First Four. “We know that before large male-dominated events, sex traffickers bring their victims into the city for entertainment,” Folks said. At a similar event last year, Be Free Dayton identified two missing children.
Folks encourages anyone who either needs help, or recognizes someone who may need help, to call Be Free Dayton’s hotline at 530-378-4771. The county’s Human Trafficking Hotline can be reached at 937-384-2462 or by email at humantrafficking@mcohiosheriff.org.
About the Author