Last week the Leon County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests of 13 men for child sex crimes. The busts prompted an advocate for trafficking victims to speak out.
It was a sting operation with undercover officers posing as minors. One man was traveling to meet someone he thought was the mother of an 11-year-old girl. He planned to pay the mother so he could have sex with her daughter.
Robin Hassler Thompson is executive director of the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, which serves victims of sex and labor trafficking. She says the case is consistent with what she sees as an increase in people being trafficked by a family member or caregiver.
