Carolyn Potter, CEO of The Well House, a Christian home in Odenville for women and children that has helped victims of human trafficking the past 13 years, said what Carlee Russell reported is far out of the norm of real trafficking cases.
What’s publicly known so far from police about the incident reported by Russell, who returned home on Saturday, is not like the cases the Well House handles, she said.
“The things that are sensationalized like this are not what we see in human trafficking,” Potter said. “It’s entirely possible that someone would use a child to lure someone into a situation, but think about this. It’s late at night, in the dark. Who is really going to stop? There are no white vans pulling up snatching kids and throwing them in … I’m afraid we get too wound up in the sensationalism of things and we miss what’s right under our noses.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that in fiscal 2022 the agency identified and or rescued 1,170 child victims through its Child Exploitation Investigations Unit, and arrested 4,459 people for crimes involving sexual exploitation of children, with more than 2,147 convictions. “If you feel the need to stop, stay in your vehicle on the phone with law enforcement,” she said. “Just call 911 and report what you see. If nothing else comes from this, be careful, be cautious, stay in your car, stay on your phone, make sure law enforcement is informed.”“Trafficking is real but that is not typically the scenario we see,” Potter said. “It does happen. People are kidnapped. That is not the typical scenario in the rescues and survivors we see.
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