Sex Trafficking: In Our Home

Rocklin has been known for how safe it is, but how safe is it really?

Sex Trafficking: In Our Home

There are some news stories that seem so outrageously cruel and disgusting, our immediate defense is that this could never happen in our neighborhood, right? Wrong. According to National Human Trafficking Hotline’s website there has been 1,012 reported cases of human trafficking in California this year alone, and a victim count of 5,251. And this definitely includes Placer and Sacramento county.

In 2008, a 17 year-old girl was snatched from a Safeway parking lot. She was sold for sex online for two years until police finally tracked her from a craigslist ad. This happened in El Dorado Hills, just 18 miles away.

In 2014 an FBI task forces and local authorities found nine underage girls working as prostitutes and they arrested seven men suspected to be pimps. The men were found in Fresno, Fairfield and Sacramento.

And this year in September Cindy Breault Turk with her daughter at the Roseville Galleria Mall witnessed a man who appeared to be in his 50’s studying and approach four preteen girls. He started by asking if they had been there long, who dropped them off, and even for their numbers to begin a “business” relation with them.

Turk wrote her story on Facebook, “I grabbed the nearby housekeeping worker and tried explaining and pointed at the guy…She runs to grab her supervisor, and the guy knowing he was spotted, walked off right away… The supervisor came over… She looked ready to jump the guy and said ‘thank you, I’m calling security now’, and they took off after the guy.”

Haley Romig, a Rocklin High School junior, is very aware of this problem in Placer County.

“My father (Chad Romig) is the founder and a leader of E49, which helps find housing for homeless people in Sacramento,” Haley said. E49 is a church-led organization with hopes to diminish the social destruction of both homeless youth and sex trafficked youth by fostering and caring for those affected.

Thanks to Turk and E49 there is some help, it’s important to understand that this happens all over Placer County. “I know we learned this when we were kids, but it’s important to know who you’re talking [to],” said Haley, “whether in real life or online.” No matter what gender, race or age you are, it is important to be informed and aware of this crime that plagues our community.

If you want to get involved in the fight against sex trafficking or help those affected please visit: http://www.e49corp.org/ or http://www.standupplacer.org/