Tag Archive: Kentucky

Human Trafficking Isn’t Like What You See In Movies. Here’s What To Look For

May 6, 2021

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Human trafficking may seem like a big city issue — one that’s more likely seen in blockbusters than in your hometown. If it was happening here, you would know about it, right? Wrong.

Traffickers and their victims exist throughout the Louisville metropolitan area. They could be your neighborhoods, friends or even relatives — and the stories depicted in movies and shows is rarely their reality.

“I think people have their own idea of what human trafficking is, but…I don’t think people truly understand the depth of what human trafficking is and how pervasive it is in the community,” said Regina Vargo-Carirro, a People Against Trafficking Humans (PATH) board member.

Human trafficking, the buying and selling of humans for labor, sex or both, is happening here.

“More people are sold than gun sales themselves,” one LMPD Special Victims Unit detective said. “Let that sink in for a minute. A human being, a life, is sold. And it has surpassed gun sales.”

The detective, who also works undercover for the FBI’s Human Trafficking Task Force said he has identified doctors, lawyers, teacher and even parents dropping kids off for practice as traffickers.

“You just don’t realize…that stuff [is] right under your nose,” the detective said. “Until I came to this unit, and you see how dark that side of the world is…and it’s there.”

Since 2007, there have been 373 cases of human trafficking reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline in state of Kentucky. Around 869 victims have been reported in those cases.

Read the full story by Hayley Minogue on WHAS 11.

UPS And Metro United Way Join To Fight Human Trafficking In Louisville And Other Cities

October 8, 2020

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Crammed into a single motel room with three adults, a dozen youngsters were sent into the streets to sell candy. The sales team put in long hours and stayed out well past dark. They were told to pay for their own food with $2 to $3 an hour in pay — and had to deliver cash to their bosses daily.

The arrest of Shawn Floyd, an Indianapolis man charged a year ago with multiple felony human trafficking charges in Bowling Green, according to court records, drew little notice until the Kentucky Attorney General’s office levied more serious charges in February.

The allegations of forced labor and child exploitation — one kid was just 10 years old — highlight a rising concern among advocates in Louisville and across the country. They worry that the global pandemic and its economic devastation are creating a dangerous confluence of risk factors.

To read the full story by Grace Schneier on The Louisville Courier Journal: Click Here