The Super Bowl typically brings a spike in sex trafficking to its host city, experts say. Law enforcement, the NFL and a victim advocacy group are working to combat that in Southern California.
Inglewood officials publicly identified the man who was arrested and released on bail in connection with a fight outside SoFi Stadium during the NFC title game.
Los Angeles is already one of the worst cities for human trafficking because of its busy international airport and proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border. And yet 83% of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. are U.S. citizens, according to the Department of Justice. Oree Freeman is a survivor of child sex trafficking. She was sold on the streets of L.A. thousands of times, from when she was 11 years old until she was 15.
"It's about a grace of God that I'm still alive, out of the things that I experienced," she told ABC7."You think, 'Not my child'? Does your children have access to social media? Does your child have access to the internet? No, your child is a vulnerable youth," she said."It's not just this minority kid, although it might be a large percentage. It's not this minority kid from South Central L.A.
As the city of Inglewood prepares to host Super Bowl LVI, about fourteen groups, including Saving Innocence, are collaborating with the NFL and the Rams as part of the South Los Angeles Anti-Human Trafficking Committee."We operate in the shadows in order to combat the traffickers that are operating in the shadows," said Eddy Wang, deputy special agent in charge, Homeland Security Investigations Log Angeles.
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