Natasha Greendyk

1,784 Words
North Carolina battles sex trafficking
Screaming, slamming doors and constant worry were common occurrences in Jessica Spiveys
Charlotte house growing up. She would lie in bed listening to her older, at the time, 15-year-old
sister argue with her parents about a boyfriend that she had.
Spiveys sister, Anna, whose name has been changed for safety, had run away from her home in
Charlotte without anyones permission multiple times to a 28-year-old male, who claimed to
have loved her and would pick her up from her house to take her to his home in South Carolina.
They met on the internet.
I just remember hearing her tell my parents that they couldnt take her away from the man she
loved and she would go to him, no matter what, Hurst said.
Anna was a victim of a sex crime. Fortunately for her, she was able to leave that life because of
intense parental intervention. Unfortunately for many others, this cases characteristics are
common for the beginning of the sex trafficking cycle. Victims of sex trafficking tend to have
lifelong battles with several mental and social issues.
Rated as the eighth most dangerous state in sex trafficking in the United States, North Carolina is
working to build more restoration homes and new laws to protect those victims and return them
to a normal lifestyle, according to the Polaris Project, an international organization working to
end slavery and sex trafficking.
Annas offender was never caught. After returning home, she refused to tell anyone his actual
name because she had him under a different title in her cell phone, Spivey said. Legally, the
offender could had been charged with multiple counts of indecent liberties with a minor based on
the text messages that were found.
The local problem
According to federal law, sex trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the
commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to
perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.
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Locally, North Carolina is seeing more and more cases appear in the news about the trafficking
of women who are then forced into a prostitution life.
In the 2010 United States v. Shawn Michael Clark case, Clark was charged in North Carolina to
multiple counts of trafficking for labor or services of a minor and sex trafficking of a minor after
4 minor females claimed to be victims. He enticed them into a life of prostitution by supplying
them with illegal narcotics, coercing commission of the sex acts by physical force, keeping the
proceeds of the sex acts, and advertising the prostitution services on the internet, according to the
case brief.
In April, detective Lisa Johnson of Taylorsville was assigned a case similar to Annas.
Johnson said she received a phone call early that morning from a friend informing her that they
had intercepted their childs cell phone and found text messages from a man in Arkansas who
claimed he was planning on driving to their 12-year-old daughters school to get her.
After receiving that call, Johnson quickly set up two police standby locations: one at the school
and one at the childs home. The police were to wait there until the perpetrator would arrive to
pick up the girl.
Angry at her mother for ruining her relationship with this older man, the daughter tipped off the
man. But Taylorsville police still issued warrants for the man, Ryan Dean Morris, 23, three for
counts of indecent liberties and one count for third degree sexual exploitation of a child,
according to Taylorsville authorities.
Johnsons investigation has led her to discover multiple sexual photographs of the child on
Morris cell phone, and a multitude of sexual language in the text message conversations.
Morris is now housed in the Alexander County Detention Center under a $400,000 secured bond
with more charges possibly pending.
How did Morris and his victim meet?
What possibly could a 12-year-old child and a 23-year-old man have in common, Johnson
said. What possibly were his motives? None of the answers I come up with in my mind are
good. With my 20 plus years of experience in this job, these things never end well.
She suspects that they met somewhere online because these sex crimes are increasingly
becoming more cyber-related.
Catherine Marcum, author of Cyber Crime, an assistant professor in Appalachian State
Universitys Department of Government and Justice Studies, describes the history and growing
frequency of cybercrimes as being very dangerous to society because not all of the crimes
require extensive computer skills to perform and can be performed quickly.
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Sex trafficking has become more prevalent due to the ease of use of the Internet, and the
anonymity available to online users, Marcum said. Individuals are able to advertise online, as
well as lure potential victims into the business.

Websites like Backpage.com and Craigslist.com are used by pimps and other sex traffickers to
advertise their girls as prostitutes and escorts, most of them lying about their age, according to
the Polaris Project.

It doesnt take long for anyone to access these websites and find, under the adult section,
advertisements like I am a College Girl with Erotic Desires 19, or Busty Beauty Love to
Spoil a Married Man 19. The number indicates the advertised age of the female.

Hotlines to tip off officials or to help victims escape exist and are also advertised on the same
pages of the Backpage.com and Craigslist.com personals. According to the Polaris Project, North
Carolina received 624 calls in 2013 alone.

Once a call to the hotline has been made, the operator tries to obtain as much information as
possible and then refers the caller to an appropriate organization and the law enforcement to
make a report. This is typically where the investigation for a case begins.


A Lifelong Battle

Exiting the jurisdiction of a pimp or an older, over-aged, boyfriend is hard. Many of these
female victims are afraid to contact any police force for their own security, said Lee Ann
Ferguson, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Appalachian State who teaches Sexual
Deviance and Violence.

Because of their young ages, many of the victims become used to a lifestyle of sex acts and
prostitution, resulting in a lifelong battle to return to normalcy.

According to a study by Shared Hope International, the average age of entry into prostitution or
the commercial sex industry in the U.S. is 11 to 14 years old. Leaving the industry is sometimes
just as hard a life, though. The same study showed that 30 percent of homeless shelter youth and
70 percent of street youth are estimated to be victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

Common psychological effects of victims include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
depression, anxiety disorders, Stockholm Syndrome and paranoia, according to Restore a Voice,
an organization fighting sex trafficking.

These pimps tend to tell their girls that they are the ones in control and that the girls have no
say, which leaves them brainwashed to think that this is simply the way life is, Ferguson said.
But it is important that rehabilitation homes let them know that these victims are in charge of
their own life and can make their own decisions.

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For both Anna and the 12-year-old Taylorsville victim, the court ordered family therapy to try to
reconnect the siblings and gain trust within them again.
The therapy process for recovery is not easy and it is definitely not short, Ferguson said. The
victims, who are predominantly female, are forced into a lifetime struggle. It does not only affect
their own lives, but it also forces the nation, and state, to change policy and to be more aware of
internal problems.
Despite the high number of sex trafficking cases in N.C., the state is tiered by Polaris Project as
one of the top ranking states in regards to policy against human and sex trafficking.
Recognizing it as a growing problem, North Carolina classifies human trafficking as acts
involving coercion, deception, involuntary servitude, and sexual servitude. It is a felony charge if
someone is caught with allegations for trafficking.
We have something called the safe harbor laws, which is probably our most effective effort to
ending the sexual slavery trade in the state, said Andrew Ferguson, Lee Ann Fergusons
husband and Appalachian State, who is a lecturer in criminology.
The general assembly describes the law as one that focuses heavily on prosecuting the demand
for commercial sex by increasing the penalties for those that engage in it, whether through
solicitation, pimping, trafficking or sexual acts.
In this attempt to prosecute offenders with harsher punishments and protect its youth, North
Carolina is consciously making an effort to make a change for the better, said Lee Ann Ferguson.
A Place to Call Home
Sydney Beshore, an interdisciplinary studies major at Appalachian State, whose focus is on
social work, is passionate about ending sex slavery. Working with the university club,
International Justice Mission, she has discovered a way for her own talents to make way for aid.
She is currently in the planning stages for opening a restoration home in Watauga County called
The Tree House. The attendants of the house, the victims, will be referrals from social services,
law enforcement and outside organizations across the state, she said.
The Tree House is anticipated to house four to six survivors and will be located in this county for
its intimate setting and ability to experience a healthy community.
The house is expected to provide the basic living necessities, counseling, medical attention, a
GED program, and skills-training opportunities, Beshore said. They are hoping to have two live-
in staff members called house moms.
The projected price for this house is about $500 thousand, according to a presentation piece by
Beshore. But she has begun to advertise and fundraise for this opening.
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This house is intended to become a household for survivors, where they can rehabilitate and
return to a normal, safe life.
Its these kinds of places that give victims like Anna and the 12-year-old girl a place to call
home.
Anna, for months, continuously ran away from home to the older man. Her family, to this day, in
unaware of what exactly happened while she was gone. She has revealed that information only to
therapists.
Anna had run away so many times that, for a while, we thought we may never get our old Anna
back, Spivey said. But one day she came home and asked for help and from that day on, it was
definitely a struggle, but at least she had a home to go back to.
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