Source: theconversation.com 12/8/25
Most Americans imagine human trafficking as a violent kidnapping or a “stranger danger” crime – someone abducted from a parking lot or trapped in a shipping container brought in from another country.
In fact, trafficking rarely takes this form.
In most cases, traffickers spend months or even years building trust and creating emotional and economic bonds with their victims. They use a variety of coercion and control techniques such as emotional abuse, forced criminality, financial abuse, and physical and sexual abuse to entrap their victims.
Meanwhile, the perpetrators are making money off their victims’ unpaid labor, including unwanted sex work. Human trafficking is estimated to be a US$172 billion industry.
The story of Jeffrey Epstein is just one example of how traffickers use a combination of manipulation, economic dependency and coercion – rather than physical captivity – to entrap vulnerable people and slowly erode their autonomy. Many victims don’t even realize they’re being exploited due to the manipulations of their traffickers.
Epstein’s crimes have attracted the national spotlight due to the fame and power of his clientele. His case demonstrates the harsh reality that human trafficking is…
This is basically a “Look at us and how great we are” paper. Personally, I have a hard time believing their claims.
With the number of new massage parlors opening up in that county, I absolutely and positively bet the sheriff’s department investigated it and used all appropriate means in their investigation to determine it was all legal and nothing nefarious to point to illegalities being commenced on premises. They didn’t have to “expose” themselves to provide any legal basis for charges. (Wink wink).
Interesting data point is the fact that it happens because of the person in a position of trust is the one that does the action, no one on a registry.