PPSEAWA General Meeting at Susannah Wesley Community Center on February 20, 2019 was a great event for everyone who attended. So many interesting stories about the job of dealing with sex trafficking of minors.
PPSEAWA Hi invited three men, Shaun Martin -Investigator Prosecutor’s Office, Paul Malama - Homeland Security Investigator, and Brandon Silva - Supervisory Special Agent (undercover agents) to be our speakers. We viewed a slide presentation, and gained a lot of information from their stories of their experiences raiding establishments and apprehensions.
These officers deal with run-aways, young girls who are looking for a man to care for them or to be loved by a male, looking for men who give them gifts, comfort, love, a sense of excitement, etc. They may be told by this older man that because they are running out of money, the girl should go out and earn some, by selling her body. The girl may get hooked on drugs, become convinced to become a hooker, and then asked to invite her girlfriends who may want to earn money as well. Young girls like nice clothes, jewelry, etc. so the men buy what their want, and the unsuspecting girls find out it is more fun than what they have at home.
Danger occurs when girls go online, internet, chatroom, to meet men (potential Johns). This is why parents need to keep a closer watch over their daughters and what they view on-line, as well as where they go at night.
See accompanying photos of the card that is handed out to potential victims.
Question and answer period followed the presentation, and everyone who attended enjoyed the session. Everyone agreed that new, stricter laws and penalties need to be in place to prevent these things from happening. One thought is that education and presentation of subject area need to start at the middle school level, to students as well as to parents.
*Article written as a result of comments from several meeting attendees.