A 22-year-old man from Edmond, Oklahoma, was arrested in North Carolina this week on multiple complaints including human trafficking.
Jeremy Dean Moots and a Missouri man, 28-year-old Justin Angermeier, were arrested on complaints of human trafficking, involuntary servitude, second-degree kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency and neglect of a juvenile. The pair were arrested after two sisters, aged 15 and 16, were found in a hotel room and told police they were being held against their will.
Often, when we hear of human trafficking, particularly trafficking involving teen girls, we automatically think of sex trafficking. Although sex trafficking gets a lot of media attention, human trafficking can also include labor trafficking, and that is the type of forced servitude involved in this case.
The sisters told investigators that they began working for a magazine sales company, but when they wanted to quit and go home, they were denied communication with their parents and transportation home.
According to reports, Moots denied any wrongdoing, saying his only involvement was paying for the girls' plane fare at the request of the company.
In addition to the teen girls, investigators say they found two 18-year-old men at the same hotel who also claimed they were held against their will and forced to sell magazines.
The Polaris Project, an organization intended to combat human trafficking, says that door-to-door magazine sales crews and other peddling crews are often comprised of teens and young adults who initially join as a result of promises of easy money, but are soon forced into continuing with the company.
The organization describes the typical strategy for these travelling sales crews:
"Sales crews typically recruit U.S. citizen youth ages 18 to 25, sometimes younger, with promises of travel, a care-free life, and the ability to make a lot of money.A "crew" consists of an average of 3 to 40 youth, under the direction of a manager, who moves the crew from city to city every few weeks. Crew members receive a small daily stipend of $8 to $15 or less , to cover the cost of meals and personal items.Violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, pressure tactics, and abandonment in unfamiliar cities are common."
These companies uses several tactics to trap young people into working for them for little to no pay. Essentially, they rely on fear, coercion, and isolation. Often, these organizations recruit disenfranchised youth and those who are economically disadvantaged. These young people have little to no resources available to them. They sign on with the crew when they are promised easy money, a place to stay, and a chance to travel the country. Instead, they are given a pittance for their work, forced to stay in overcrowded hotel rooms, and denied adequate food and necessities. If they do not meet sales quotas, they are punished or even abandoned.
Even those who do meet sales quotas are denied the fruits of their labors. According to the Polaris Project, "Salescrew operators are estimated to cumultatively earn $50 million annually.Crew members may take in as much as $100 per day, but are allotted barely enough to cover meals, usually $8 to $15 per day.They typically don't have enough money to buy a bus ticket home."
In recent summers, mothers across the Oklahoma City metro took to social media to warn of a travelling children's book sales crew, saying that the young woman knocking on doors may be involved in human trafficking. However, the fear was misguided. Many of these mothers were terrified that the woman and her colleagues were scouting neighborhoods to return and abduct children to sell them into sex slavery. The truth is that it is far more likely that the young person knocking on your door is a victim who needs your help, rather than a predator seeking to steal your children.
Human trafficking is a media buzzword right now; however, there is a great deal of confusion and misconception by the public in truly understanding what trafficking means. Find labor trafficking resources here.
