0:12

From the South Florida Schutz This

0:14

is a special episode of Florida

0:16

season three innocence sold.

0:18

I'm David Schutz, producer

0:21

of Flonius, Florida. It's

0:23

been just about two months since

0:25

the early release is season three, and

0:27

we have updates on some of the cases that we told

0:29

you about in those episodes. also

0:33

human trafficking awareness month and a good

0:35

opportunity to talk more about the issues we uncovered

0:37

during our investigation that contribute

0:39

to the exploitation of children by sex

0:41

traffickers. I'm here at

0:44

the beautiful studios of Pod Populae

0:46

in Boca Raton, Florida, and I'm joined

0:48

by the investigative team that spent many

0:50

months reporting on the stories we told you.

0:52

Report is Britney Spencer Norris

0:55

and David Fleschler. We also

0:57

have with us John Rody, a former Miami

0:59

Dade police detective, was now a private

1:01

investigator who worked with families and

1:03

on his own to find and rescue children who

1:05

were being exploited. We're

1:08

also honored to be joined by Jean

1:10

Moss. Jean is a survivor and also

1:12

the founder of n CEO of Ozanifer

1:15

Youth, a wonderful organization provides

1:17

education and awareness on the issues of

1:19

child abuse and trafficking and supports

1:21

victims and their families. Thank you, and Jean

1:23

and John for joining us. I

1:26

want to start by talking to the reporters

1:28

about their work over the past fourteen

1:30

or fifteen months. These were not easy

1:33

stories to research and to

1:35

tell, and I wanted to find

1:37

out what some of the biggest challenges

1:39

you face throughout your

1:40

work. Britney?

1:46

Well, one of the challenges was

1:49

navigating the

1:52

emotions of dealing with

1:54

these family members because as

1:57

all journalists know, you don't

1:59

just interview someone for a quote.

2:02

You build relationships with sources

2:04

and, you know,

2:07

family members are texting

2:09

you and you're seeing photos

2:12

and videos of their child and,

2:15

you know, and they're calling you at all hours

2:17

in you

2:20

know, it's it's not all gonna be

2:22

published. You know, you wanna be responsible

2:27

with their feelings and

2:31

share their stories, but it's

2:33

it's also something that you carry as a human

2:34

being. Being a part of

2:37

that? This is I'm sure this is something ANGI

2:39

knows very well. These are

2:41

issues that are deeply

2:44

personal to people and

2:46

it's a challenge to get to

2:48

first find who they are

2:51

and then get them to open

2:53

up and talk publicly about

2:55

them. How how did you go about

2:57

being able to do that? And Spenser,

3:00

you talked to a lot of victims, survivors.

3:04

How did you go about talking

3:07

to them?

3:10

Oftentimes, we were

3:13

coming we are coming to victims from

3:16

the perspective of

3:18

we wanna address the systemic issues

3:21

that we're seeing and figuring

3:23

out where their personal narratives

3:26

fit into this bigger picture.

3:30

I think that it was important

3:32

for us to explain oftentimes

3:34

that we are trying to

3:37

take a larger more systemic view of

3:39

the issue. To

3:41

try

3:41

to convince them that they're helping

3:44

other victims and survivor.

3:45

Yeah, absolutely. And

3:47

to remind them that their

3:50

individual stories are part

3:52

of a bigger narrative and they they can tell

3:54

us something about what's what's really going on

3:56

on the ground. You

3:59

also had volumes of

4:01

documents to go through. I

4:03

know I got a peek into some of your

4:05

files and there are thousands of

4:07

court cases and transcripts and

4:09

depositions. How

4:11

do you get those documents and and

4:14

how did how did you go through them to really

4:17

find the the

4:19

discoveries that you made in the excuse

4:22

me, in the investigation?

4:24

Well, one of the things that you learn

4:26

is you're gonna spend a lot

4:28

of time running

4:31

down rabbit calls and doing

4:33

research that never appears in

4:35

the series. But every bit

4:37

of reporting informs

4:40

another bit of reporting. And so

4:42

Pitts all useful, but we have

4:45

we did an enormous amount

4:47

of research we interviewed

4:49

people, including a

4:51

victim who came in and cried

4:53

and told her story, and it helps

4:57

give us a sense of understanding even

4:59

though she wasn't in the podcast. But

5:01

so it's a lot of every

5:04

day is sort of saying, you

5:07

know, I guess, like a sculptor,

5:09

like, what is the sculpture, you know.

5:11

There's a whole lot of clay here

5:14

and, you

5:14

know, what do I need to do with all of

5:17

this?

5:17

You had a lot of help from researchers and

5:20

advocates and even some policymakers Schutz

5:23

what about the government agencies that

5:25

are more directly involved in these issues

5:27

and can make changes

5:29

to this system?

5:31

Well, I was very disappointed with

5:34

some of the people that are

5:36

in positions to influence

5:38

spending and public attention

5:40

on these issues because at

5:43

least in Broward County,

5:47

we were criticized, which

5:49

I think is shameful.

5:52

We spent a year on a very important topic.

5:55

And obviously, it's something that

5:57

is ruining lives

5:59

in our community. And

6:02

some influential people in

6:04

Broward County. I think

6:06

maybe saw it as an indictment that

6:08

while you're exposing things that

6:10

we aren't doing right, And

6:12

so we were criticized for that. Now by and

6:14

large, we got the

6:17

reaction was so positive, and so many

6:19

people thanked us so that that,

6:21

you know, made it

6:23

worthwhile, but I just think that

6:25

that was surprising. And a big piece

6:27

of this was law enforcement. You

6:30

you needed some of their

6:32

cooperation to dig into

6:35

these stories and to understand the cases

6:36

more. Schutz you ran into a lot of roadblocks

6:39

with law enforcement. Yeah.

6:42

I think when we're talking about

6:44

the notion of cooperation.

6:46

It's important to point out we asked

6:48

on numerous occasions for

6:50

law enforcement to speak with us

6:53

for the series. And

6:56

we were largely stonewalled in

6:59

the end. We did not have

7:01

any law enforcement agency except

7:03

for homeland security

7:05

agreed to sit down and speak with

7:08

us on the record, but

7:10

not about specific cases. They talking

7:12

very generally about their investigations and

7:14

issues. And not about specific

7:16

cases. Any specifics that we are able to

7:18

track down about any of these cases

7:21

came from records that

7:23

we had to oftentimes jostle

7:25

for months to acquire.

7:27

This was the case for for various

7:29

police departments. This was the case

7:31

for the Department of Children and families. It

7:33

was kind of shocking at

7:35

times the lack of cooperation that

7:37

we got. From some of these agencies

7:39

when it came to sharing information Schutz is

7:41

supposed to be free and

7:42

public. In no case, was that more

7:44

evident in the case a Sophie reader She's

7:47

a miss missing fifteen year old girl whose

7:49

story we told throughout season three.

7:52

And one of the most mysterious

7:54

parts of her case was that late night watch

7:56

she took the night

7:58

that she disappeared. But

8:00

Britney, you needed Fort

8:02

Lauderdale, please, to give

8:04

you

8:04

information. And the fact is they

8:06

weren't and weren't even

8:08

really talking to the family. That's

8:11

right. And I asked them if they had any update

8:13

that I could share And,

8:15

you

8:16

know, as expected, they said,

8:18

no, we have nothing to share. They

8:22

you know, I I tried to convince

8:24

them. This is a cold case. You're saying you have no

8:26

suspects. You've got no leads.

8:29

We are going to be

8:31

getting this out in front of so many

8:33

eyes and ears, maybe it would

8:35

lead to a tip. Why not

8:38

give us more of the case

8:40

file? And it's

8:42

just inexplicable. They they were not

8:44

interested in in talking

8:46

or sharing information or sitting down

8:48

with us or or anything of the

8:50

sort. John, you've been a police detective

8:52

for many years and you've been

8:54

deeply involved for the past several years

8:56

in looking for missing

8:59

children and helping to rescue them from

9:01

exploitation. So do you think is

9:03

going on here when law enforcement doesn't

9:05

cooperate like this? Doesn't surprise

9:08

me at all,

9:11

especially Sophie's case that I was personally

9:13

involved in the case from the day

9:16

that she was reporting missing. And

9:18

just what was by accident, I saw a flyer

9:20

on telephone pole, a picture,

9:23

called the number, And it was to her

9:25

mother, Nicole Twist,

9:27

who I've been talking to for the

9:29

past almost six years

9:30

now, weekly about

9:32

Sophie. And

9:35

the

9:36

four letter police department has been stonewall in this

9:39

case from the get go. Get go.

9:41

Is it

9:41

is it unusual in a in a missing

9:44

child child case like this? I

9:46

think it's an issue

9:48

with law that Pitts more across

9:50

the country. They wanna

9:52

keep everything tied to their vest. Law

9:55

enforcement is so

9:57

used to telling you what to do.

10:00

Sit down, come here, give me a license,

10:02

whatever. You know, like, outside

10:04

civilians, especially a

10:06

former law enforcement like myself,

10:09

criticizing what they're doing.

10:12

Because in my case, I know what should have been

10:13

done, what they should do.

10:16

They may be

10:16

able to be a BS to public,

10:19

but they can't BS me.

10:21

And they don't like that.

10:23

Because I'm gonna call it the way it is.

10:26

Okay? And that becomes

10:28

a real issue with law

10:30

enforcement. In Sophie's

10:32

case, It came down a point where I was actually

10:34

told and you back off. If I

10:36

don't, you're gonna

10:38

recipe for impeding on an ongoing

10:40

investigation. That's

10:42

how nasty it

10:45

got with the detectives involved in

10:47

that

10:47

case. This is missing teenager.

10:49

Why wouldn't they look

10:51

for any help that they can get

10:53

from any direction?

10:55

You know,

10:57

Most police departments, the only case is that

10:59

get

11:00

a lot of publicity if

11:03

it's a true abduction case.

11:06

Childhood snatched off the street, you have

11:08

a tag number, you get the gambler on

11:10

your phone, but that's

11:12

only one percent that hundreds of thousands

11:14

missing children across the country. K?

11:18

So they look at it. It's

11:20

just a runaway. She

11:22

left She'll be back.

11:24

They go to the parents house.

11:27

They take a police report. They give the

11:29

parents the case card. Calls

11:31

when she comes

11:31

back. The child comes back

11:34

three hours later next

11:35

day. They

11:36

call the the place they come back and they

11:39

cancel a message in the national and

11:41

local computers.

11:41

Well, the

11:43

child does it again next month later.

11:47

Same process.

11:48

But now

11:49

on a law enforcement's eyes, now

11:51

she's a bitch will run away.

11:54

So

11:54

no one from law enforcement is driving around,

11:57

looking for that missing child.

12:00

Okay? It's like back in the olden

12:02

days, you had a missing shawl on a milk

12:04

carton. Or now they

12:06

put them up Every time there's a

12:08

special den, Super Bowl,

12:11

Miami Grand Prix, and it gives big

12:13

billboards. Human

12:15

trafficking, look out for these

12:17

signs. It's nothing more

12:19

than smoke and mirrors. For

12:21

the politicians and law

12:23

enforcement and local people can stand

12:25

up on a

12:25

podium, get their pictures

12:27

taken and say all what they're doing, how

12:29

concerned they

12:30

are. And I've done

12:32

dozens and dozens of stories, print

12:34

stories, TV interviews. I'm

12:36

saying, listen, it was here before the

12:38

Super Bowl. It was here before the

12:40

mining grand prix. So what

12:42

happens when the mining grand prix

12:44

left? You think the problem is gone? It's

12:46

still here right now.

12:47

And it's

12:48

more prevalent now than anywhere else in the

12:51

country.

12:51

So in safe Sophie's

12:53

case, because she hurricanes was

12:55

much more complicated than just to run away. It

12:57

became very clear, fast that

12:59

there was something else going on here. Right?

13:01

So it became a criminal investigation

13:04

potential sex

13:04

trafficking. Does that change the way

13:07

that investigators handle

13:09

in a case like

13:10

this? If

13:12

I was still active law enforcement,

13:14

I wouldn't want to help anyone,

13:17

especially the media. Out of use

13:19

and media as much as I can, in

13:21

a local businesses, whatever. In

13:25

Silver Reader's case, the problem

13:27

is, is that the

13:29

detectives of the case in the police

13:31

department botched up the case when

13:33

the get go. So many

13:35

mistakes were made. So now

13:37

when they're questioned by the former

13:39

law enforcement and the

13:41

media, they're

13:42

getting defensive. They get defensive. They

13:44

don't wanna show what they're doing

13:46

what they did wrong. So now

13:48

six years after the

13:49

fact, six years is May twentieth.

13:52

Now they're finally offering a reward twenty

13:54

five thousand dollars for

13:55

Sophie. I'm saying, why wasn't

13:58

that done five years ago? Okay?

14:01

And they made a self serving video

14:04

that's on their website

14:05

talking about all the work they did,

14:09

all the groups, they formed the missing

14:11

persons, human trafficking, homicide, and how they're

14:13

working together. All smoke

14:15

and

14:15

mirrors. Okay? Initially,

14:18

they said the FBI was involved in the

14:20

case.

14:20

But to my contacts, and

14:23

with an investigator that's working on Sophie's

14:25

case right now, Mike Visten,

14:27

former homicide partner myself,

14:30

who was hired by Sophie's

14:32

father's family is working the case

14:34

right now. He contacted

14:36

the source of the FBI and they

14:37

said, listen, We weren't involved in the

14:40

case at all.

14:40

The only thing we did was take

14:42

the information put in the national

14:45

art database. We weren't

14:47

involved in no interviews, no

14:49

surveillance, no nothing. And that

14:51

database is standard for any missing

14:52

child. Right.

14:55

Did you talk to the FBI to see if they were

14:57

involved in the case? Yes.

14:59

We did talk to the FBI at one

15:01

point, and I don't recall what they said about

15:03

hurricane, specifically. But,

15:06

you know, there was this notion that

15:08

a runaway doesn't need to

15:10

be looked for. AND I THINK THAT WAS

15:12

ONE OF THE KEY THINGS THAT WE FOUND THROUGH

15:14

OUR REPORTING WAS THAT AND

15:17

THAT FOR LATERDEL POLICE DEPARTMENT AND I THINK

15:19

OTHER AGENCIES ARE are finally realizing

15:21

is that, I mean,

15:23

a runaway teen girl

15:25

is in more danger than

15:27

anyone else. They are the ones that

15:30

end up being trafficked

15:32

because they need somebody to give

15:34

them a roof over their head and

15:36

food. And and Jean, you're

15:38

shaking You're nodding your

15:40

head. Why? I'm nodding my head

15:42

because ninety percent of the

15:44

time, the runways are running from

15:47

something at home, dysfunctional household,

15:50

or whatever the issue may be, a lack

15:52

of something, or they probably met

15:54

someone on social media, whatever

15:56

that thing is that they're

15:58

missing. They're running away from

16:00

it at home. And when they get

16:02

to the streets, they have to live.

16:04

And in that, it puts them in vulnerable

16:06

situations of prostituting,

16:09

stealing, you

16:11

know, getting in a

16:13

mix with some people that

16:15

may offer drugs or whatever

16:17

to get them prepared to prostitute.

16:20

You know, it's a lot that goes on for them

16:22

to sustain themselves outside of the home.

16:24

So once they run away, it's

16:26

it's like you just the

16:29

parents don't realize they're pushing the

16:31

kids out in the arms of danger.

16:33

And Sophie absolutely

16:35

was in a situation where she had kind

16:37

of unstable home situation

16:39

going back and forth between

16:42

parents. So

16:44

a lot of these stories followed

16:46

the same trajectory. Howard Bauchner:

16:47

Yeah, it's interesting how many

16:50

parallels there were in the many

16:52

tragic stories of girls that

16:55

you know, either ended up

16:57

dying as some

16:59

of the girls in our series or

17:01

still missing like Sophie there's

17:05

some turmoil

17:07

at home. A lot of them had apparent

17:10

with an addiction. That

17:12

can really destroy a young

17:14

person. They may have

17:16

had mental health

17:18

needs that were not met.

17:20

You know, there are

17:22

a lot of things that as a parent

17:25

or a family member,

17:27

I mean, they come from

17:29

every echelon of you know. They

17:31

that doesn't mean they were not

17:32

loved. Right. And

17:35

if I may add this that

17:37

even from my own lived experience,

17:41

being sexually abused as

17:43

a child and fitting in

17:45

every, you know, serene

17:48

every bit of what they would

17:50

say is statistic

17:53

I was that young girl. So

17:55

leaving home was not

17:57

having someone to combine in

17:59

or to trust or to

18:02

help you when you say, hey, I've been

18:04

touched. Somebody in the family or a

18:06

family friend, someone has

18:08

sexually molested me. At that

18:10

point in time, especially in black and

18:12

brown family, is it's it's a

18:14

divide. It's a divide

18:16

of is she telling the truth or is

18:18

she lying? And you mostly

18:20

get ostracized and pushed

18:22

out. Because now you said something against a family

18:24

member that we all love so much.

18:26

You know? So that's

18:29

one the reasons that the children today,

18:31

especially in, you know, our

18:33

communities feel that they

18:35

can't they don't have voice.

18:37

They're suffocating. They want to tell.

18:39

They can't tell. And

18:41

they end up with this low self

18:43

esteem trying to hide all this stuff. Within

18:45

themselves and self medicate, and

18:47

they end up getting the accolades of

18:49

a stranger or someone they meet on

18:51

social media, someone in like

18:54

with myself, I met a older

18:56

man. And me

18:58

being a young

19:00

adult, I'm fifty two now,

19:02

you listen. Leaving

19:04

a young adult and, you know, being

19:06

a teenager in school, I

19:08

was pregnant by fourteen. I

19:10

ran away numerous of times.

19:13

And every time that I was on the

19:15

street, I had to maintain a

19:17

way for me to live out

19:19

there. And with your

19:21

body already being violated

19:23

or you've been taught that that

19:25

body is your love language or that

19:27

body is your money that you can

19:29

get whatever you

19:30

want. You begin to put yourself in positions to try to

19:32

sustain yourself out there on the streets.

19:34

And

19:34

put your trust in somebody that

19:37

you really shouldn't be trusting. Exactly. And

19:39

that's where the

19:40

explic the grooming and exploitation begins.

19:42

Very much so.

19:43

This

19:43

was the case we'd suspect with Sophie,

19:46

right, when when she that night that

19:48

she went out for her mysterious

19:50

walk that we detailed, nobody really

19:52

knows exactly what she was walking

19:55

into. But that was an interesting

19:57

moment in the podcast when

20:01

you and Spencer and one of

20:03

our other colleagues went

20:05

out to retrace Sophie's

20:08

walk that night, using it to

20:10

do it at night. Some of these

20:12

neighborhoods were sketchy. But why

20:14

did you think that it was important to

20:16

retrace her steps? We

20:18

wanted to kind of

20:20

put ourselves you know, in

20:23

her mindset and get an

20:25

idea of how

20:27

long did that walk take? And

20:29

what would she have seen and

20:31

who might have driven past her and,

20:34

you know, any

20:36

clue that we could get as

20:38

to what she was

20:40

maybe up to. And, you

20:42

know, it was

20:45

a long walk she was out

20:48

there a long time. And

20:50

so, to me, that gave the

20:52

notion of just not

20:54

wanting to be at home.

20:55

And to me, also, it seemed

20:58

really symbolic because the

21:00

neighborhoods that she walked through kind of

21:02

went from or more affluent

21:04

area in the aisles

21:06

into a very sketchy

21:09

neighborhood. Where she was last known

21:11

and that transition from

21:13

that that sort of life

21:15

into that more dark

21:17

and unknown

21:17

area. I thought it was a very symbolic. Yeah.

21:19

I I did think I mean,

21:21

you said it yourself, Dave. The thing is

21:24

that she was

21:26

a teenager. And she was walking

21:28

through neighborhoods that as

21:30

grown adults, I wouldn't particularly wanna

21:32

be walking around on my own in the middle

21:34

of the night. She was extremely

21:37

vulnerable. And I think

21:39

that just walking walking that

21:41

route and seeing where she

21:43

was going, for hours unsupervised, really

21:46

underscored just how vulnerable

21:48

she was at the end of the

21:50

day.

21:51

And also, you know, we know from one of the videos

21:54

that a deputy drove

21:56

by, and being out there and

21:57

realizing, gosh,

22:00

they drove by this teenager

22:02

walking it, you know, after

22:04

hours and it's very

22:07

you know, you know, there's not a lot

22:10

of activity. You just feel

22:12

like, wouldn't you have

22:13

stopped? You know, wouldn't you

22:15

stop? Just ask a question and maybe that's

22:17

all it would have taken on that night.

22:22

John,

22:22

you mentioned that there's some

22:25

investigations going on on

22:27

the side of Sophie's father's fam

22:29

Sophie's father's family. Do

22:32

any of you see any glimmer of hope at

22:34

this point for Sophie's family? It's

22:36

coming up on six

22:37

years, as you said.

22:40

Well, as of

22:41

right now, when I'd say no,

22:44

I don't have

22:47

much involvement with Sophie's father,

22:52

my involvement is with Sophie's

22:53

mother. Of

22:56

course, you

22:57

wants to have some type of

22:58

closure to this. But

23:02

when you lose a

23:03

child, there's really never really

23:06

no closure.

23:07

She may find out

23:07

that, yes, Sophie's

23:09

is dead. This is

23:10

where she's at. There's

23:12

right now rest of her life. There's no closure

23:14

in her case.

23:18

Now there are some possibilities

23:21

coming up. I really can't discuss too much

23:23

about it, but

23:26

without mentioning any names, but there's

23:28

a person that's in federal person right

23:30

now that

23:32

was friends with an individual

23:35

that it

23:35

may be a

23:36

it was a suspect in the case with

23:39

four no go police

23:42

department. And my partner,

23:44

Mike Fishman, is going up to North Carolina next

23:46

week to interview that person

23:48

with his

23:49

lawyer. Who claims

23:51

he has some information regarding Sophie's

23:53

case. So

23:54

maybe he will finally get

23:57

some

23:57

answers one way or the other. And as

23:59

you said, maybe maybe that's what's needed is

24:01

just at least to have some answers to what

24:03

happened. Now, of course, that

24:07

x how much I had detective

24:09

and now a private investigator

24:12

zero cooperations from

24:14

the Fort Lauderdale Police

24:15

Department. Don't wanna talk about it. Don't wanna answer

24:17

no questions. really

24:19

really sad.

24:20

It's

24:22

kinda hard to believe.

24:24

If I was working for a female police department and

24:26

yet guys on the outside, former detectives,

24:28

they wanna help, or they media

24:31

wanna help, Come on in, let's start the

24:33

office, look through my files, I'm

24:35

gonna solve this case.

24:36

But for whatever

24:38

reason, they act like it's it's

24:40

nothing like they don't really care.

24:42

You know? And you

24:44

wonder why there's Wondery issues with

24:47

law enforcement of

24:47

the Wondery,

24:49

not just

24:49

in missing children cases,

24:52

but by authority

24:55

cases, All that does is a

24:57

bad police shootings across the

24:59

country. They're now finally being

25:01

exposed because of cell phone

25:02

cameras. In surveillance cameras on

25:05

buildings. And people are seeing the

25:07

truth. They're seeing the

25:09

cops are not perfect.

25:12

They do lie, and a lot

25:14

of them should not be

25:15

cops. It's in where you're

25:16

not getting much cooperation from the law enforcement

25:19

junket. You know, Maybe

25:21

they don't like what I'm saying because I'm no longer part

25:23

of the the blue club, you know, I'm no

25:25

longer there. Good but

25:27

the issue

25:27

is, you know, once you're at the police you work with

25:29

a police department.

25:31

The department

25:32

in the city, they know who the bad cops

25:35

are.

25:35

And when you're in

25:37

a squad with twenty thirty cops and you go

25:39

on a ship tonight, you know

25:41

who they are too.

25:42

But you can't open

25:44

your mouth because if you do, then

25:46

you're like cervical the movie.

25:49

Alpacino, you're a black

25:51

bolt. Any any

25:52

hot call you go on, your

25:54

backups will take your time getting there.

25:58

Okay? So they keep their mouth

26:00

shut

26:00

and don't do anything about it.

26:03

There's an there's another case. I wanna move on

26:06

from Sophie's case because there's another one.

26:08

And we have a lot to touch on here.

26:10

But this is the case that you were involved in also

26:12

when it's a it's a case that has

26:14

a more tragic and and

26:17

has an update since the podcast

26:19

was released. A couple of weeks ago, we reported

26:21

on the body of an unidentified young

26:24

woman who's discovered along interstate seventy five

26:26

that cuts through the Everglades. And

26:28

Brittany, the next morning, after we

26:30

reported that, you got a terrible

26:32

call.

26:33

I did. I I got

26:35

a text. I had actually was already

26:37

in bed, so I had missed a

26:39

phone call from this

26:42

young woman's grandmother. And

26:44

it was Ivy

26:47

Badell who was part

26:49

of our podcast. Her story was in

26:51

one of those episodes. Rody

26:54

introduced us to

26:57

her grandmother. And when I I

26:59

used the word obsessed purposefully

27:02

in the story, she has

27:05

been obsessed with trying

27:07

to prevent this very

27:09

outcome for her granddaughter for

27:12

I mean, I have I cannot tell

27:14

you how many text messages and calls I've

27:16

had from her since I met her

27:19

about trying to get I be off streets

27:21

and save her from

27:24

being murdered. And

27:26

so when, you know, I had seen

27:28

a story Oh, you know,

27:30

body in on Everglades

27:33

Ali, alligator Alley in

27:35

Everglades. And you

27:37

know, it would have just been another one of those briefs

27:40

in the paper, you know,

27:42

white, young, unidentified

27:44

woman found on you know,

27:46

dumped in the everglades. And I

27:49

just couldn't believe that she was telling me

27:51

that was Ivy. III

27:54

texted her back. I said, I

27:56

hope you're not telling me that was

27:58

Ivy. And she

28:00

she called me and

28:02

she I mean, to say that she was distraught

28:04

is an understatement. And

28:06

at the time, she was asking

28:08

me to go identify the

28:10

body with her. And the thing is

28:12

with these families of these

28:15

girls that are out on the streets,

28:17

she had ostracized so

28:20

many people. Because of her

28:22

passion and just

28:24

frustration and anger and

28:26

being fed up with the

28:28

police and having been told don't call nine eleven

28:30

again, and it's threatening.

28:32

I'll have your badge. And just

28:34

the every you

28:36

know, everything you can imagine, and she's a she's

28:38

a tough broad. Okay? She's a grandma,

28:41

but she she's

28:43

a pretty tough lady. And

28:46

so everybody you know, I think the

28:48

police were sick of her. They were sick of her

28:50

phone calls saying I want you to go

28:53

I Ivy's at this crack house. I want I

28:55

want you to go get her off the streets, lock

28:57

her up,

28:58

get her some help, you know?

29:00

And So

29:03

I went we didn't end up having

29:05

to go identify the Ivy's

29:08

body, but she

29:10

She had no one. I mean, she asked me, I

29:12

can go over. I said, I'll come over and

29:14

sit with you. And I

29:16

went over and she

29:19

went through photos and, you know, she

29:23

cried and and

29:25

it was like

29:28

her existence was,

29:30

like, the what did she have left to fight

29:32

for? Her whole existence was fighting

29:34

to save her granddaughter and now her

29:36

granddaughter was in the

29:38

morgue. And she didn't know how to

29:40

go on. I think, I mean, she I'm still hearing

29:42

from her because she she's

29:45

trying to figure out was

29:48

know, as we reported, sometimes

29:50

they'll give a hotshot

29:52

of drugs to a

29:55

traffic girl when, you know, when they just they're

29:57

they're done with them. We

29:59

don't know. There have been no arrests. We

30:01

don't know how she ended up out

30:04

there. But her grandmother,

30:06

Barbara, husband, you

30:08

know, trying to sleuth it out. I

30:10

mean, Rody can tell you she's

30:13

called every frat, you know, trying to figure

30:15

out where Ivy was, who

30:18

found her, what were the

30:20

circumstances you know, so it's very

30:22

sad because now her fight has just shifted

30:24

to figuring out how

30:26

her granddaughter did end up

30:28

land there on the side of the

30:29

road? Is

30:30

she in being investigated as a homicide?

30:32

Well, yeah. I mean, it's being

30:35

investigated by homicide detectives,

30:37

but they said there were no signs

30:40

of, you know, that she

30:42

of felt free trial. Yeah.

30:45

So

30:46

I don't know. Maybe she overdosed and

30:49

and

30:49

somebody, you

30:50

know, just still felt the need

30:52

to dump

30:53

her somewhere. But what

30:56

a terrible ending for a young woman that had

30:58

somebody that was fighting like

31:00

you can't imagine to

31:01

get her off the

31:04

streets. And

31:05

Ivy endured for, what,

31:08

almost six years after

31:10

she started being trafficked.

31:12

But she still couldn't find her way out.

31:15

Spencer, you've talked to several

31:17

young women who,

31:19

like Ivy, survived her trafficking

31:22

their trafficking guarantes for a

31:24

while. And you found that they

31:26

face really tough challenges, including

31:28

in the legal system. This was an area that you focused

31:30

a lot on in your investigation.

31:33

In the conversations that you've

31:35

had with women like those who

31:37

were trafficked by William Foster

31:39

and others, what are some of the most

31:41

significant challenges they face,

31:43

especially with regard to the legal

31:45

system. Sure. So

31:49

the unfortunate truth is that

31:52

a lot of the

31:54

that are rescued from

31:57

from a trafficking scenario,

32:01

oftentimes Wondery up

32:03

in a different set of very

32:05

challenging circumstances. On

32:09

the other side of trafficking, I think I think

32:11

that in the popular imagination,

32:13

there is this narrative that they're they're rescued by law

32:15

enforcement. That's the end of the story.

32:17

Happy ending. In

32:19

truth, they face an uphill

32:22

battle. Across a

32:24

number of different fronts, for example.

32:26

Even if they are recovered by

32:28

law enforcement a lot of the time,

32:31

women wind up being charged as criminals themselves.

32:34

We encountered

32:36

a number of women that had been

32:38

picked up while they're being trafficked.

32:42

For drug possession, or

32:45

prostitution, or something else of that

32:47

nature. And they Wondery up

32:49

being charges criminals themselves.

32:52

Now, there's an evolving

32:54

understanding of this and more people are being trained to

32:56

look for these kinds of warning when

32:58

it comes to trafficking victims, but it's still something that

33:00

that happens. And when

33:03

that does happen,

33:06

the trafficking victims

33:08

then are facing a different kind of uphill

33:10

battle because on the

33:13

other side of this, after they've

33:15

gotten out being trafficked, think

33:17

now have a criminal record. And

33:19

that makes it incredibly

33:22

difficult to or

33:24

makes incredibly difficult to get legitimate

33:26

employment anywhere because you have to check

33:28

the box. Right? So

33:31

they immediately get thrown into

33:34

this Catch twenty two

33:37

where they've been they've been pulled out of their

33:39

trafficking

33:39

scenario. They're trying to get back on their feet.

33:41

And they might try and clear their

33:44

names.

33:44

Orda has a provision that allows

33:47

them to get their records expunged.

33:51

And a lot of people are able to successfully

33:53

take advantage of it, but

33:55

oftentimes only happens if you're able

33:57

to get probe on no legal representation

33:59

because it's such an expensive

34:01

process. Right. I mean, it's going toe

34:03

to toe with the legal system.

34:06

Right? And most know

34:08

you better have a lawyer in your corner if

34:10

like you are if you're going to go into

34:12

court and try and do

34:16

something as as challenging as,

34:18

like, clearing your name. So

34:20

what winds up happening is a lot of these

34:22

women just aren't able to access the

34:24

extinction process in the first place

34:25

because, I mean, can't get a

34:28

job and they can't afford a lawyer.

34:30

So it's a vicious cycle that a lot of

34:32

them get stuck in and also

34:34

causes housing issues for

34:36

them. Causes housing issues for

34:37

them. Child child support, child

34:40

care, custody issues, all

34:42

these come up -- Yeah. -- record like that. Yeah,

34:44

just about anything that you can imagine that happens when

34:46

you land with a criminal record. And

34:51

it's happening to them unfairly. I mean, by virtue of the

34:53

fact that there is an expansion process, the

34:55

state is acknowledging, like, look,

34:58

this isn't fair. This should not be

35:00

happening in the first place.

35:02

And yet, a lot of them are just kind

35:04

of stuck in the sloop that they can't

35:06

break out

35:07

of. But this is an issue that

35:09

has taken some developments since the

35:11

since we released the series up

35:13

in Tallahassee in the state

35:15

capital. You just ordered this morning on a bill that was

35:17

filed by one of our local state senators

35:20

that is meant to help in

35:22

this issue.

35:24

Yeah. It's true. So

35:26

we recently learned that there was

35:28

a there was a bill filed on Tuesday

35:32

that can potentially create a trust fund for human

35:34

trafficking victims in Florida.

35:36

In a provision that bill would allow some of that

35:39

fund to be spent helping women

35:42

retain that legal counsel. Now, I

35:44

mean, this bill was just it was

35:46

just filed. And

35:49

anything can happen in the next four to five months,

35:51

could dine committee. But

35:55

I mean, it's reassuring. We've been hearing from a lot

35:57

of legislators at this

36:00

point that they're going to be

36:02

prioritizing human trafficking during the

36:04

upcoming session. And Pitts

36:08

promising. It's promising that there might actually be

36:10

progress on this front in twenty twenty

36:12

three. So

36:12

you've heard from some of the state leaders that these bills actually do stand

36:15

a chance? Yeah, I mean,

36:16

a lot of people a lot of people believe

36:18

in what they're putting forward.

36:22

We've gotten calls from a few advocates who've said, like,

36:24

look, we think that

36:27

y'all covering trafficking

36:29

over the past year. Has

36:31

given us some extra momentum that

36:33

we needed. I think it's

36:36

telling that the last time

36:38

that trust fund for human trafficking victims was brought up was about four

36:40

years ago, and it was a thing that was kind

36:42

of let go. So the fact

36:44

that anybody suggesting, you know, we might

36:46

actually have political momentum in

36:48

order to get this across the finish

36:50

line. So, you know, it's a wait and

36:52

see kind of

36:52

thing. It's far from a guarantee Schutz

36:56

there's some help there. And Brittany, there's been some positive developments on

36:58

issues that you spent a lot of time reporting

37:00

on too since our series lawmakers

37:02

have started talking about the risk that

37:05

girls in foster care here have been traffic.

37:07

So let's just talk a few minutes

37:09

about that. We told a

37:11

a harrowing story in episode five about two team two teenagers who

37:13

were trafficked out of a group foster home in the Florida

37:15

Keys, and the trafficker was actually a staff member

37:18

at that

37:20

home. And there was another case in your investigation

37:22

that involved foster homes that

37:24

might be even more

37:25

tragic. Tell us about

37:28

Jaden Frisbee. Jaden

37:32

Story was one of those you know,

37:34

we had so many little

37:36

moments of

37:38

reporting serendipity and we

37:44

helping us tell

37:46

this horrifying story.

37:48

And Spencer had a

37:51

database of children and foster

37:53

care and their movement from

37:55

one spot to another. And

37:57

there was Jaden was a number. She was just

37:59

a number whose last look, you

38:01

know, entry was that she

38:04

died. She was a runaway.

38:06

She had run away from her

38:08

from a group home. And we said, wow.

38:10

You know, we could figure out

38:12

who that is and tell back girl

38:14

story because she was a teenager. And so, you

38:17

know, the only clue was

38:19

they had listed who her foster

38:21

parents were, and so

38:24

there was, you know, someone from her first foster parent from

38:26

ten years ago. Name was there,

38:28

and there was no phone number, and

38:31

I found a bunch of email addresses and sent a bunch

38:33

of emails, and then it was one of those, you know,

38:35

nine o'clock at night. I hear, you know, ping,

38:37

then I got an email and and oh

38:40

my gosh. Yes. That's my granddaughter.

38:42

And and yes, I will

38:44

I want to tell her story the

38:47

foster care system failed her

38:51

miserably. And, you know,

38:53

she was another girl that

38:56

had, you know, LOVING

38:58

FAMILY. THEY HAD TROUBLE

39:00

WHEN SHE BECAME A TEENAGER. THEY

39:02

HAD WILL A HAD WILL A HAD

39:04

WILL A HAD WILL A HAD WILL

39:06

A HAD will day, had will day, had will

39:09

day, had will day, had will day,

39:11

had will day, had will day, had

39:13

will

39:13

day, had will day, had will

39:15

day, had will

39:16

day. Easing people'

39:19

children, but no, you know

39:21

what, we found. And her story was a great

39:23

example of was that I mean,

39:25

if you have a teen girl anywhere in your life or

39:27

your orbit, I mean, you should do everything that you

39:29

can to make

39:31

sure she never the

39:34

foster care system because she may never come

39:36

back out. So

39:37

Schutz vulnerabilities that girls like Jada

39:39

are facing in that system? Well,

39:42

you're congregating girls that

39:45

have had troubled teen

39:48

troubled home lives. They may have been sexually abused. They

39:50

may be to drugs. Some of them

39:52

have already been trafficked and

39:55

recruit the others. And

39:58

you're putting them in a group

40:00

home where these I mean, traffickers

40:02

know. I you see that house right there? It's

40:04

full of sixteen year old girls that don't

40:06

have a lot

40:08

of supervision. And they

40:10

all they have no money.

40:12

There's not a lot of food there.

40:16

And you know, we saw a lot of examples of

40:18

girls. You know, it was called Sharking. You

40:20

know, the trafficers wait for

40:22

one of these girls to walk

40:25

to the corner

40:26

store. And so

40:29

Jaden had

40:31

ended up you know, she she kept running away because they do. They run they

40:34

always run away. I mean, it's not a

40:36

great place to live. And

40:38

she ended up in a hotel room with an

40:40

adult

40:40

man. And

40:42

died of an overdose.

40:44

And,

40:44

you know, the guy said he didn't have

40:46

sex with her that he had she

40:49

was cold and she

40:50

was at the gas station and needed a place to Who

40:54

knows? But her family

40:56

was devastated.

40:57

And Jean,

41:00

I want to bring you in on this,

41:02

because a lot of the

41:04

same vulnerabilities as we

41:06

talked about that put girls into the foster

41:09

system to begin with are the

41:11

same vulnerabilities that make

41:14

them perfect targets for sex traffickers. So how do you

41:16

how do you deal with those

41:18

vulnerabilities vulnerabilities before they're even in

41:20

that situation? I

41:22

tell I tell everyone right off back. You

41:24

look at the home life, you can find

41:27

the problem. And you have

41:30

to go And, you know, a lot of people say, well, we don't have a chance go

41:32

to each person's house. I go,

41:34

but these are children that's in our

41:36

community. These are children that's in our

41:39

schools. If we're not paying attention to the

41:42

kids off back to see what

41:44

the home life wait, turn in a blind

41:46

eye to your

41:48

neighbor's house. If you know something is wrong over there, you

41:50

know, try to get involved and help

41:52

out. These children don't

41:55

have an outlet. So the

41:58

vulnerabilities are Pitts

42:00

could be lack of food. It could

42:02

be a whole house of two generations

42:04

under one roof and a bunch of

42:06

dysfunction. You know, drug

42:09

addicted parents, sexual abuse, you

42:11

know, which lead to poor

42:13

self esteem, low self

42:15

esteem, being bullied, you know, possibly

42:17

very promistuous, you know. It can

42:20

lead until all these other

42:22

undercurrents that doesn't

42:24

get seen until

42:26

their traffic or until they

42:28

run away or until they're

42:30

missing or it's like if we

42:33

can get a hold of the

42:36

surface things that's happening,

42:38

you know, I know we can't, you

42:40

know, I tell everybody our organization, Josefa,

42:43

you can't save everybody. Schutz watching

42:45

and we're looking, we're vigilant in the communities before

42:47

it even get out of

42:49

hand. And when you go into

42:51

the school systems, you

42:53

know, today. And you see the dynamics of

42:56

the school. You know, you have

42:58

sexual identity. It's it's it's

43:00

a big thing,

43:02

you know. In the school

43:04

systems, you know, everybody trying to figure

43:06

out who they are and, you

43:08

know, trying to become this person's social

43:10

media is influencing

43:12

the children. You know, they have access

43:14

to talk to people all over the world now. You know, and you have no

43:16

clue who in that extreme thing

43:19

Pitts the one

43:21

thing that they prey on. That's the grooming process where they

43:23

get to your kids

43:25

through their extreme. So if they're a

43:27

low self esteem and I

43:29

can tell you love you. You're beautiful. You

43:32

know? I'm engaging

43:34

with you and pretty soon you're telling me

43:36

where you live and how I can

43:38

come pick you up. So it's lot of

43:40

vulnerabilities that are not being identified

43:44

at home or not being identified

43:46

fight in our communities. And I think one things that we

43:49

as, you know, a community of folks

43:51

need to start doing

43:54

is pan attention to our surroundings. You know, we

43:56

can't we can't look at

43:58

human trafficking as AAAA

44:00

big thing if we don't see it as a little

44:04

thing. We have to see it

44:06

first. You know, black and

44:08

brown, we don't make the

44:09

news. We

44:10

don't make the news. Nobody's looking for

44:14

know, I know everybody's like, why is this we're not they're

44:16

not looking for us.

44:18

You know, the police department

44:22

as Josena with a delay reporting

44:24

because our agency, we deal with

44:26

cases for those that

44:29

have been abused, that want a

44:31

report is called delay They may have gotten sexually

44:34

abused when they were twelve, but

44:36

now they're

44:38

twenty 7. We we

44:40

advocate for these people to report

44:41

it. You shall voice speak up.

44:44

You go to the police department. They write a

44:46

report

44:47

and nothing. So

44:47

you're back to why did I even say

44:50

anything? Who

44:51

cares? So we're trying

44:54

to get in with the

44:56

police department and look

44:58

at what's the policy and what's the

45:00

law and how can we work together

45:02

because these people

45:04

have been you know, uplifted and

45:06

empowered. And there they they may not

45:08

have the evidence, so we need to dig a

45:10

little harder to

45:12

get evidence because these

45:14

family friendly perpetrators are

45:16

the ones that's continuing to do

45:18

and molest

45:19

and, you know, find another victim.

45:21

They just move to the next one when

45:23

they don't have a

45:24

case against them. Howard Bauchner: And these group homes are

45:27

right in the communities.

45:29

They're they're not they're

45:32

not hospital settings, they're not medical centers.

45:34

These are homes that are

45:36

placed just in any neighborhood at

45:38

all. And the girls

45:40

who are there Pitts supervision,

45:42

little support. So

45:43

Britney, what's being done

45:46

on

45:47

this issue? Well, I wish I could say we're being

45:50

fixed, but,

45:52

you know, there will be some bills

45:54

filed. There was a bill filed about

45:58

helping about making sure that

46:00

more is done to look

46:02

for girls that run away from

46:04

foster care, which, you know, that's a

46:06

huge issue. you

46:09

know, our reporting found

46:11

that even though

46:13

it's widely known and the federal

46:16

government passed a law to it's

46:18

widely known that group

46:20

care does not produce good outcomes,

46:22

especially for teenagers. If you hear any

46:24

stats that tell you otherwise,

46:26

they're probably not isolated

46:30

to teenagers. But when you get these troubled teenagers in group it's

46:32

just not good. And the federal government, it's

46:34

like, why would we even spend money

46:36

on something that's harming children?

46:40

Certainly not helping them. And so they did

46:42

pass a law that would financially,

46:46

you know, pull funds from states

46:48

that put

46:50

kids in group homes for more than two weeks, but Florida

46:52

used a loophole in order

46:54

to keep the group homes going. And

46:57

so they say if you're one

47:00

of the one of the exclusions

47:02

was girls at risk of

47:04

of trafficking. And and the definition

47:06

is so broad. I mean, you

47:09

could any any girl would make would need

47:11

it, you know? And so I can

47:13

tell you right now these group

47:15

homes, none of them closed, and they're

47:17

they're full of these girls. And

47:20

so because of this loophole, the state is allowed to continue using the

47:22

group foster homes and get

47:24

federal funding for

47:26

it. Exactly.

47:28

Exactly. And there, you know, if more

47:30

people would agree to be foster

47:32

parents, and it's not easy because

47:34

you especially for

47:36

this population. You know,

47:38

it it's it's

47:40

difficult. So there's really not

47:42

enough foster homes

47:44

where they could place these

47:47

girls as an alternative. But I think

47:49

to what Najim was saying, you know, one

47:51

of the solutions is addressing the home

47:53

in the first place. And

47:56

trying, you know, to not, you

47:59

know, maybe put the child with a

48:01

family member or

48:03

someone other than a foster care

48:06

system and also help the families,

48:08

you know,

48:09

provide services for them

48:11

and get to that root

48:13

cause. many times the many

48:16

times the family, if you

48:18

start there, you'll realize that

48:21

the mother probably was also sexually

48:24

abused, and the mother probably has the

48:26

same issues that the teen is

48:28

going through. Not all the

48:29

time, but most of the time, whatever the issue is is right there in

48:32

the core of the house.

48:34

Let's talk about

48:36

another issue. That

48:38

surfaced in the investigation that seemed to

48:40

get some of the most attention, at

48:42

least from the public. We

48:45

reported on hotels and how

48:47

they facilitate sex traffickers.

48:51

David Fleschler looked closely

48:53

at this issue, and I think on

48:55

the surface, it just seems logical,

48:58

like, a known fact that, of

48:59

course, hotel rooms provide the ideal venue

49:01

for traffickers to get away

49:03

with the

49:04

crime. But there are things

49:06

that hotels can, and in

49:08

fact, are required to be doing to help

49:10

keep sex trafficking out of their

49:12

rooms. So are some of the things that you found David in your investigation?

49:14

I think the

49:16

first surprising thing

49:17

I found was how widespread

49:20

it was and how it wasn't

49:22

confined to what you consider to be fairly trashy, sleazy hotels. It's

49:24

everywhere. It's hotels that stay Pitts your

49:26

family. So, hotels off of an

49:30

interstate. And and

49:34

there are lots of signs

49:36

that hotel managers are told to

49:40

watch for things like a door propped open to

49:42

allow customers to go get

49:44

inside without going through, without

49:46

being seen,

49:48

or

49:50

the people who don't

49:51

look like this should be get together an older man with

49:53

a younger girl who scared, things

49:56

like that.

49:58

Now the state passed a law in twenty nineteen where

50:00

they claimed they wouldn't crack down on

50:02

the sex trade in hotels if they

50:05

one of

50:05

the sponsors said that this law

50:08

would show that Florida

50:10

is closed to business or

50:12

to and traffickers and

50:15

The law

50:17

required some modest steps. It required

50:20

hotels to give their staff training

50:22

to look for the signs

50:23

of trafficking. Required to know how to report it.

50:26

I required them to put up

50:28

posters. And it it was passed and they

50:30

and and they

50:32

started to

50:34

add that to the list of things that inspect hotels for.

50:36

But really Florida wasn't closed for

50:38

business at all to instant traffickers,

50:41

especially in hotels. It's The

50:43

trade is still very very widespread. You

50:45

can go on the internet right

50:47

now and just find lots

50:49

of women who or being advertised as being

50:51

available. Sometimes they name the hotels where

50:54

they're where they're located. It's very

50:56

very open.

50:57

And

50:57

the enforcement

50:58

of of law has kind of been

51:00

a joke. We found there

51:02

have been more than fourteen thousand violations

51:05

of the

51:06

law and not a single hotel has been fined for it. The law

51:08

provides fines of up to two thousand dollars

51:10

a day violations, but

51:12

it also has a loophole.

51:15

Where if you fix the violation within ninety

51:17

days, you won't be fined. And they've

51:19

all, according to the state, fixed the

51:22

violations, so nobody's

51:24

been fined. We found more than

51:25

one hundred hotels had six violations or

51:28

more. And it's clear that they're just

51:30

not taking

51:32

very seriously what is in fact a very, very

51:34

modest law to prevent trafficking in

51:36

hotels. Well, I was I was gonna

51:38

ask if the hotels are

51:40

being cited and then fixing the

51:42

problem within the time

51:44

frame allowed, then what is

51:46

the

51:46

issue? John, you've dealt a lot,

51:48

but the

51:49

issue is the hotels

51:51

are not fixing

51:53

a problem.

51:54

They're their major problem with even

51:57

trafficking any legal

52:00

prostitution because the hotels wanna

52:02

make the money rain the

52:03

room out. They

52:04

turned a blind eye to it. Yes. The law was

52:06

passed where they have to give their employees training

52:08

and put up a poster

52:10

at the front

52:12

office.

52:14

All smoke and

52:15

mirrors. Okay? I deal

52:16

with hotels on a daily basis.

52:18

Probably seventy five percent of

52:20

them don't want you nothing. The

52:24

responses, well, if you know someone's going

52:26

on, call the place,

52:28

I'm not

52:29

a cop.

52:29

I have no idea

52:31

what's happening in the room.

52:33

I can show you on the sex

52:35

websites, the text messages, the

52:38

photographs from the person in the

52:39

room, and even undercover

52:41

video. And they still don't want to do

52:44

anything. Okay? Now there are hotels they deal

52:46

with that are very proactive and

52:48

we've made some

52:50

great rescues. But majority of them, especially the

52:52

hotels that are franchised, not

52:54

corporate hotels, they're the

52:56

biggest

52:56

offenders.

52:58

Okay? Now,

53:00

the managers, GMs, the

53:02

people that have an eye

53:04

on this would be the

53:07

housekeeping, because the other ones are in the hallways

53:10

all the time doing the

53:11

rooms. Okay? But are the acts of

53:14

reporting it? Probably not

53:16

because I report dozens

53:18

of cases a week, but

53:19

rule evidence, and they do

53:22

it. You

53:23

know nothing. So I'm sure

53:24

if an employee brings something to her

53:26

attention, they're gonna blow them off too.

53:29

David, you

53:29

you went out with John,

53:32

to visit some of these hotels.

53:34

How difficult was it to

53:36

find young women to talk

53:37

to? And what do they have

53:40

to say? Well, first of all, it was really easy. We found one

53:42

hotel in the city of

53:44

Hollywood where there were thirteen ad where there

53:46

were thirteen ads for women at

53:48

that hotel. And John

53:50

and I visited three of them. It

53:52

was very easy, and they were all happy

53:54

to talk because of they were

53:56

just relieved we weren't

53:58

cops. So they they and

54:02

the manager

54:03

of the hotel

54:04

is pretty much in a state of

54:06

denial. He claimed to know to not know

54:08

anything about this. He

54:09

had no idea these women were there,

54:11

these ads were there, the really

54:13

sounded like complete nonsense.

54:16

We we talked to three of the women.

54:20

They were all from out

54:22

of

54:22

town, One who I talked to the most was from the Dominican Republic.

54:26

She did

54:27

that work to support three children home

54:30

in the

54:32

Dominican public who lived fairly well from

54:34

what she said for for that

54:36

country which she had a daughter in college,

54:38

but this was the only way she could make

54:41

enough money she said to to support

54:43

her children. And she

54:46

claimed not to be coerced, but

54:48

she also said It was a man who takes I

54:50

can't remember if it was forty or fifty

54:53

percent of her take every

54:55

week. And he sends some guy

54:57

in a taxi every week from

54:59

the airport. To pick up the money. She said it generally

55:01

amounts to about a thousand dollars a

55:02

week. So why does she think

55:05

that's not coercion? Because he does work for her.

55:07

He places the ads.

55:10

He he does the administrative work. Okay.

55:12

But I don't know the whole story.

55:16

And I didn't expect she would tell me

55:17

everything. You know, I'm a

55:20

stranger, and I'm not sure if she wouldn't tell

55:22

me everything.

55:23

you know,

55:24

most of these ads, you're not

55:26

actually talking to the female that's in the room.

55:28

You're talking with some guy that's

55:30

who knows where he's at. He's someone

55:33

this texting back and forth. He's someone

55:36

that's sending you photographs.

55:38

And then once

55:39

you arrive, he'll text you

55:41

the room number. It's not the girl that's in the room.

55:43

And a

55:43

lot of them are young females,

55:46

some of them underage,

55:48

juveniles, or ones that are eighteen

55:50

or nineteen, in my eyes, they're

55:52

still they're still a kid. They're not an adult.

55:54

Under the law enforcement

55:56

eyes, they're an adult. And that's

55:59

that's the major issue with missing

56:01

children. Once that child turns

56:03

eighteen years old, like an

56:05

IV Beadell's

56:07

case, She's an adult. No one from law

56:10

enforcement's looking for her. She left on her own. She's

56:12

an adult. But Juvenile's

56:14

make you a little

56:16

more

56:16

attention. But you're dealing with someone that's

56:18

maybe not

56:18

even in the same

56:19

country, texting back and forth,

56:22

setting it

56:24

up, And

56:24

like I said, the day we were Schutz was

56:27

about ten girls at one hotel,

56:27

and we're not mentioning that hotel's

56:30

name. Another

56:32

hotel in Fort Lauderdale

56:34

on Stabil eighty four

56:36

owned by the same

56:38

franchise, the

56:41

same General Manager for both locations who have given

56:43

them two hundred cases in the past two

56:46

years, never once called the

56:48

police one

56:50

time. If I

56:53

could add to that, oh,

56:55

even though none of the women we talked to

56:57

had diminished being coerced, We

56:59

did read a lot of court cases in

57:01

which women have been trafficked at

57:04

hotels, nice hotels, franchises,

57:06

everybody would recognize. And

57:09

the stories were often they had

57:11

were addicted to drugs, and their only source

57:13

of drugs was the Pimp.

57:15

They were

57:15

being beaten. The Pimp would pay them only

57:17

in drugs. They might have originally

57:19

started out saying it was a fifty fifty

57:22

financial arrangement, but then they become

57:24

dependent on heroin or cocaine. The

57:26

Pimp would only pay them in that. They would be

57:28

scrounging food. From the

57:30

candy machine or get trying to

57:32

get all in nutrition for the day from the

57:34

breakfast buffet downstairs at

57:36

the

57:36

hotel. So there were all sorts of real stories, of course,

57:38

and and trafficking. So

57:41

we've seen since Sears

57:43

came out some promising

57:46

movement in assisting survivors

57:50

of sex trafficking

57:52

with their legal costs some potential movement

57:54

on creating a task force in the state to help

57:57

address issues with group foster care.

57:59

What sort of move

58:01

and have you seen a potential

58:04

movement dealing with the issue of

58:05

hotels? The sponsor of

58:08

the original law that required

58:10

hotels did take a few small steps against trafficking, said she was

58:13

surprised to learn that no one had

58:15

been fined under the law Wondery

58:17

she was going introduce legislation to toughen it

58:20

and to have to call for fines

58:22

for repeated

58:24

vendors. But I mean, there's been lots

58:26

of legislation over human trafficking before.

58:28

It's one of the most popular

58:29

causes. It's mom and Apple pie. Their

58:31

task forces and working groups and everything. So by this time,

58:33

it's very easy to be a little cynical that some

58:35

law is

58:36

gonna be

58:36

passed and that's gonna make make a difference.

58:40

I want to

58:42

just go back to ANGI because

58:44

we're getting close on time here.

58:47

Just for your your

58:49

final thoughts, and Jean, on

58:51

what message our listeners should be

58:53

left with going forward

58:55

on this

58:56

issue? I will leave them

58:58

with this as a community issue.

59:00

A community issues that started at

59:02

one person at a time. We need to

59:04

take time and engage with within our

59:06

community, give them what they are,

59:09

be an ear for them.

59:11

You know, a lot of times

59:13

children are embarrassed about going

59:16

on Schutz what they don't have and

59:18

stuff like that. Being here,

59:20

listening here so that you can help

59:22

that child regain what it

59:24

needs to function

59:26

in their community or

59:28

in their culture so that they

59:30

don't have to sustain themselves

59:33

to any outside or trying to use them

59:36

for any type of,

59:38

I would say, sex

59:41

or, you know, love

59:43

or whatever that affection is. Howard Bauchner:

59:46

And what about a message for

59:48

parents? We've

59:50

heard from parents who've listened to the series who III

59:52

just can't see myself in that. I

59:54

can't how can parents

59:57

miss the warning

59:58

signs? What

1:00:00

would be a good message for parents? Well, I

1:00:03

parents miss the warning signs because they

1:00:05

can't be honest with themselves of

1:00:07

what they've been

1:00:10

through. You know, you have to be honest with who you are and

1:00:12

know who you are and be honest with your

1:00:14

children with who you are and what you've been

1:00:16

through. For

1:00:19

me, I'll use me

1:00:21

as an example, everything that

1:00:23

I went through from the sexual

1:00:25

abuse to every statistic dropping out of house high school,

1:00:27

going back to school, going to college. I

1:00:29

mean, everything in

1:00:32

between that

1:00:33

every topic we've talked about,

1:00:35

I did it.

1:00:36

But when I stand before a

1:00:38

parent, I said if I would allow

1:00:40

what you said I would become and who I

1:00:42

am, I would have stopped.

1:00:44

I would have been branded

1:00:46

with the statistic of you

1:00:50

know, being just a nobody young lady. And

1:00:52

here I am at fifty two regained

1:00:54

my whole life back because someone

1:00:58

listened someone believed

1:01:00

and said, hey, you're not what

1:01:02

happened to you. You're not what

1:01:04

what's done to you. But here you

1:01:06

are. What do you have to offer this society?

1:01:09

And I came back and here I

1:01:11

am. I created Rosanna for youth,

1:01:13

then I lived up other young

1:01:16

ladies and men and as well as

1:01:18

boys and girls to let them see that

1:01:20

just because you were sexually

1:01:21

abused, doesn't mean it has

1:01:23

to define you. Thank you so much for that. We are

1:01:25

out of time, but I I

1:01:28

wanna thank everybody for

1:01:30

joining us here at Pod Pod Raton

1:01:32

for sharing your thoughts. Brittany Spencer

1:01:34

David, John and Jean. Please

1:01:36

check out and Jean's organization, Hosanna,

1:01:40

for youth, dot org, that's

1:01:42

H0SANNA,

1:01:44

the number four, youth dot 0RG.

1:01:47

And remember, you can get More

1:01:49

human trafficking resources refined ways to report tips about sex trafficking on

1:01:51

our website, baloney's Florida dot

1:01:54

com. That's also

1:01:56

where you can listen to the entire new season as well as our previous

1:01:58

seasons. It's also on the Apple Podcast

1:02:00

and Wondery apps. You can send

1:02:02

us feedback or ask questions by emailing

1:02:05

feedback at valoniusborder dot com and follow

1:02:07

us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook,

1:02:10

that's where we'll be. Continuing to

1:02:12

cover the trafficking issue and release updates

1:02:14

on the cases we following. Finally,

1:02:16

be sure to check out the full investigation

1:02:18

from David Brittney and Spencer into child

1:02:20

sex trafficking online at sunsettingle

1:02:22

dot com slash trafficking. Folanias Florida

1:02:25

is produced by the South Florida Sun Sentinel Association with I'm

1:02:27

your host and David Schutz. Thank you

1:02:29

for listening to special episode

1:02:31

of Folanias Florida. Hey,

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