More than 250 victims of human trafficking identified in Northern Virginia in past year

More than 250 victims of human trafficking identified in Northern Virginia in past year

More than 250 victims of human trafficking and nearly 70 human trafficking suspects have been identified in Northern Virginia since the start of a program to combat the growing problem in Fairfax County, officials announced this week.

The “Just Ask “ Prevention Project is nearing its one-year anniversary. The Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force received a $1 million federal grant to raise awareness about trafficking and target additional resources to fighting it.
At an update on the progress of the program this week, Fairfax County police detective William Woolf said although authorities are making inroads on the problem they are seeing a troubling trend: Both victims and traffickers are getting younger.
“We see the ages of the victims falling into the teenage years,” Woolf said. “Traffickers are using Facebook and other social media to recruit victims.”
In September, police charged a 27-year-old Falls Church man after he allegedly struck up a relationship with a 17-year-old girl on Facebook, kept her locked in a room after they met, and then repeatedly took advantage of her. She was missing for three months.
Woolf said detectives have received 141 leads since the start of the program. He said most of the victims are American citizens, as are most traffickers. The detective said a large chunk of the trafficking is gang-related.
To coincide with the one-year anniversary of the program, a new public service announcement created by local teens was launched.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/more-than-250-victims-of-human-trafficking-identified-in-northern-virginia-in-past-year/2014/10/03/b981f890-4b2d-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html