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Mariana: Many people think sex trafficking only happens
on foreign shores. 在外国海岸
Jillian: They think, well it can't happen here. 问：他们认为，好的 它不可能发生在这里。
And not to somebody that I know. 而不是我所认识的人。
Mariana: But here in America, sex slavery is thriving. 马里亚纳：但在美国这里， 性奴役正在蓬勃发展。
Aimee: It's rampant in America. It's hidden in plain sight.
Mariana: From the shadowy prostitution tracks
of US cities.
Tre'Sean: That's when he told me I had to go sell my body 那就是他 告诉我我要去卖我的身体
to make money. 赚钱
Mark: These guys kidnap, kill, and rape women for a living.
Mariana: To illegal massage parlors.
Darren: Full service?
Woman: It's live one on one adult entertainment.
Mariana: Americans are being sold like cattle.
Jessica: I was just a piece of property.
That's why we got branded.
Mariana: And I'll come face to face with the men behind
the crime.
Man: If you take care of me, I'll take care of you.
Mariana: Let me think about it.
Darren: It sounds like he might be a pimp.
Mariana: I'm Mariana Van Zeller.
My husband Darren and I are investigative journalists.
Together we search the globe for amazing stories. Whoa!
Now we're going deeper than ever for an inside look at an America
you've never seen before.
Mark, where are we going?
Mark: Uh, tonight we're headed towards a place we've found,
it's pretty common to have girls walking the street.
Mariana: So street prostitution.
Mark: Yeah, I mean for the most part it would be labeled as
street prostitution.
It's just our concern is some of the girls are forced to walk
the beat, you know, against their will.
Mariana: Mark and Aimee are two activists who are attempting
to assist an often hidden population.
The victims of sex trafficking.
The US government defines sex trafficking as any commercial
sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion.
Mark: We're just trying to go out and maybe reach
a few of these girls.
And hand out some of our cards to let them know that
if you want to get out we can, we can provide a way out.
And, and just help you just kind of get out of this lifestyle.
Mariana: We arrive at the track, a term used to describe a city's
street prostitution area.
Mark: There's a girl right here to the left.
Mariana: Among prostitutes 75 percent are selling themselves
because they are working for a pimp.
Mark: These guys kidnap, kill, and rape women for a living.
So they're, they're, they're, you know,
you need to know that going in. They're pretty dangerous people.
Aimee: There's another girl. Mark: There's a lady.
Aimee: And then there's another one too there.
Mariana: Did she run out of the car?
Aimee: Yeah, yeah.
Mark: Her pants are pretty tore up.
Mariana: Aimee spots one young girl who seems especially
distraught. Look at that.
Did you see that, D?
Amy: I think she needs help. Come on, let's go.
Mariana: Sure. The girl's erratic behavior could indicate
that she is a trafficking victim.
Katie: censored
Aimee: Hey, hey. I have a question.
Katie: Huh? Aimee: I have a question.
Um, my name is Aimee.
If you ever need anything like clothing, food,
anything like that, if you want to get out of the game.
Katie: I definitely need clothing.
Aimee: Okay. Yeah, I saw your ripped pants.
Katie: Yeah. Aimee: My name's Aimee.
We help girls get out of the game, all that kind of stuff,
whatever they need. Katie: Okay.
Aimee: What's your name? Katie: Katie.
Aimee: Katie? Katie: Yeah.
Aimee: If you need anything call me. It's 24-7.
Mariana: Are you okay? Katie: Um, uh, not really.
Aimee: Are you safe? Mariana: What happened?
Katie: I can't...
Aimee: What's up, baby? Katie: A lot of xxx.
Aimee: Yeah? Katie: Yeah.
Aimee: How old are you? Katie: 23.
Aimee: You're so young, you're a baby.
Where are you from? Katie: Philly.
Aimee: Oh, okay. Where have you been staying, just around?
Katie: Hotels. Aimee: Okay, okay.
Are you working the streets right now?
Katie: Um... Aimee: A little bit?
It's okay, it's okay. I know it's scary.
I know it's dangerous.
Katie: Yeah. Yeah it is.
Mark: And actually there's a guy coming up now.
I think that's probably her pimp.
Mariana: As the girl starts to cry we have no idea
that this man is eyeing us from just a few feet away.
Mark: I may have to hop out.
Aimee: Do you have a pimp?
Or do you just do it on your own?
Katie: No, just on my own. Aimee: Okay.
Katie: But I mean people has tried to you know, tried to...
Aimee: Totally. OK...
Katie: I'll give you a call though,
because my boyfriend is across the street waiting on me.
Aimee: But Katie, if you want to get out, call me.
Katie: Okay.
Aimee: We can get you out, we can get you safe,
like if you're in danger, we can get you.
Katie: Okay, all right.
Aimee: There's a cop right there, so just be careful.
So call me.
Katie: Thank you, I will. I definitely will call you.
Thank you. Aimee: 24-7. 24-7, okay?
Katie: Thank you. Aimee: You're precious.
Katie: Thank you. I will call you definitely.
Aimee: Call me. Okay? Bye, baby.
Mariana: That's so sad. Aimee: I know, right?
Mariana: Wow. So a lot, a lot happening.
She was obviously very distressed.
She was obviously very, um, very scared of something
that was going on.
She said she didn't have a pimp, but then she said she had to go
'cause her boyfriend was across the street.
Aimee: Mm-hmm. It's so interesting, like these girls,
those are their boyfriends.
But yet their boyfriend has other girlfriends.
Mark: Yeah.
Aimee: Who are also having them work the street.
Sharmin: The track is essentially an open air market
where you see girls walking back and forth.
Many now to avoid detection don't dress up like traditional
prostitutes.
And then you look across the street and you see
a bunch of guys.
And you think, oh, it's just a bunch of guys talking.
But it's actually a group of pimps watching their girls.
And you can see that their eyes are tracking those girls.
So these are girls who are under the influence of their abusers.
Of the traffickers.
Mariana: What do you think most people don't know when they see
prostitutes out on the street?
Tre'sean: I don't think they know that there's a guy who has
that prostitute out on the street.
Mariana: For three years a pimp forced Tre'sean to work
on the track.
And he used a combination of physical and psychological abuse
Do you think that the men that you were seeing knew where
the money was going to? Tre'sean: I don't think so.
Because like, they never saw him.
Like they never knew that he exists.
A lot of people they just see those girls.
They don't see the pimp hiding in the parking lot across
the street.
They don't see the pimp riding off behind the car,
when they get in the car with the pimp.
Like they're just looking at the girl.
And that's what I think the pimp, they know that.
They know that they're just focused on the girl.
Mariana: When Mark and Aimee do their outreach
they are constantly looking out for pimps.
Mark: You see in that car back over there?
Uh, that guy easily could be a pimp.
Mariana: Pimps are the driving force behind sex trafficking.
And while they make all of the profits,
they face little of the risk.
Mark: Here's a girl right here to the left.
I think that's probably her pimp.
Obviously you know, he's checking in or giving her some
kind of instructions.
Mariana: When the pimp of another woman we are watching
walks away, Aimee decides to try to talk to her.
Should we go down here or...
But as soon as we start to approach,
another man walks up to the woman.
There's another guy coming over there.
Mark: Another guy is chatting with her.
It looks like she has two pimps. It's hard to say.
But it's kind of like she has two pimps.
Male: Hey!
Mariana: When the second man yells in our direction
we decide to back off.
Mark: So they were obviously staring you guys down.
Mariana: After we get back in the van the first pimp
has returned, followed by two other men.
Mark: They got wise to the situation and kind of brought
in reinforcements of their own.
Mariana: You see they have two guys now.
Darren: Yeah, a little uncomfortable.
Mariana: They're crossing the street.
Darren: Hmm.
Mariana: We should definitely go. Definitely.
Definitely go.
At this point it's clear that the pimps in this area are all
too aware of our presence. And it's time to go.
Aimee: I can't imagine what these girls are going through.
Mariana: Aimee is frustrated not to have had the chance
to help more women.
Aimee: They're going to get in the car with this random
stranger.
I mean each time it could be completely different.
And I can only imagine how terrified they must be.
Every single new guy that comes up, that could be their life.
Mark: Oh, she's loading.
Mariana: The most common form of modern slavery
is sex trafficking. And America is no exception.
Darren: It's 180 full service, or...
Girl: It's live one on one adult entertainment.
Mariana: We're about to go deeper into this treacherous
world, where girls are brainwashed.
Officer: She was insisting that I call her boyfriend.
Most of the time their boyfriend is their pimp.
Mariana: Traffickers are hidden in plain sight.
Jillian: He had a very, very expensive suit,
and a private plane.
You would never ever look at him and think,
oh this is a trafficker.
Mariana: And women are treated like animals.
Jessica: I was just a piece of property.
You know, that's why we got branded.
That's why all the girls that were with par-- particular guys
got branded.
Mariana: What do you mean, got branded?
When Jillian Mourning was 19 she started to make a name
for herself as a model.
But what happened that first year she kept a secret
until recently.
Nobody would believe that you're a sex trafficking victim.
Jillian: I think part of that is just because we've ingrained
in ourselves of what a sex trafficking victim often is.
Mariana: Jillian grew up as the quintessential girl next door.
She was a high school cheerleader and a straight
A student.
When Jillian was 19 and a college freshman
she became a part time model, and started booking jobs
all around the country.
Jillian: I was getting work.
And I actually, you know, all these dreams were going
to come true.
Mariana: But on one job in Arizona,
Jillian's life would change forever.
In the middle of the night three men entered her hotel room.
One of them was a man in the modeling industry.
Someone who had gained her trust.
Jillian: The first night I was there he and two other guys came
into my hotel room.
And they all raped me, and they videotaped it
and photographed it.
Mariana: When Jillian returned to Charlotte she was too
embarrassed to tell her friends, and too afraid
to go to the police.
She decided to put the whole incident behind her.
But then her abuser called.
Jillian: So he wanted me to, to meet these men
and sleep with them. And he could sell the footage.
And I was just like, I'm not comfortable with that.
And he then said, well, you know, in other words,
if I'm not going to be able to get you to do this voluntarily,
then you're still going to do it.
And I'm going to tell you why you're going to do it.
And he said, I have all these videos of you being raped
in Scottsdale.
And I'm going to sell them on the internet and attach
your name to them.
It became threat after threat after blackmail after blackmail.
And so when he would say hey, you know,
I need you to go to this city, or I'm in Charlotte
and I need you to meet with this person, then I did.
Mariana: Jillian's life became a living hell.
She says she was raped repeatedly by this man
she had once trusted.
And he forced her to have sex with other men in several cities
across the country.
Jillian: I mean it was all just about like, what that guy wanted
And what you, what desire you were to fulfill.
Mariana: One of the incredible things about Jillian's story
is that her trafficker was a wealthy and respected member
of the community.
Jillian: Very, very expensive suit and, you know,
had a private plane.
And ate at expensive restaurants.
You would never look at him and think, oh, well this is,
you know, a trafficker.
Mariana: But just like a street level pimp,
Jillian says her trafficker lived in the shadows.
Jillian: So many of those guys don't realize that you know,
women whether it's in pornography films or in strip
clubs, or just you know, in general that might be on
the street, are being kept by somebody that's above them.
Mariana: It was only after her trafficker was put in prison
for another crime that the terror stopped.
When Jillian found years later that he may have trafficked many
other girls, she started telling her story to raise awareness.
Jillian: I was young when all of this happened to me.
And you know, the average age continues to get lower
and lower, and younger with especially girls.
My story could potentially save their life.
Or save tons of girls' lives.
But you know, if it saves one girl's life,
then everything I'm doing is well worth it.
Mariana: When Jillian's trafficker sold her to other men
he did it all online.
Experts say internet sex ads are also a haven for underage
prostitution.
Aimee: A lot of the men know, oh 19,
that probably means she is even younger.
Mariana: When we meet back up with Aimee,
the anti trafficking activist, she is hoping to help other
young women like Jillian.
Young women being sold online against their will.
Aimee: Um, this is called Backpage.
It's very similar to Craigslist.
You can buy anything from a washer to antiques, to a girl.
There are different code words that have been integrated
into this.
Um, if a girl says she's 19, 20, anything under 21,
a good majority of the time it's underaged.
There are guys who are specifically only looking
for teenage or very young girls.
Now if they say limited time offer, like right here,
limited time offer.
It means more than likely she's being trafficked.
They kind of do tours, where they'll come to a city a couple
days, and then they'll leave.
Come to a city for a couple days, and then leave.
I mean they're always on the move.
Mariana: And in her case it says the 50 dollar specials.
The never before seen Miss Mouth.
Meaning she's never been here as a sex worker, at least.
So she says she's clean, independent, professional.
Independent. And she says she's not being trafficked then.
Aimee: Mm-hmm. And sometimes they are.
Sometimes it is independent.
And then other times they're not.
But even if they are independent there are pimps who are looking
through this and trying to recruit girls
to be in their service.
So what we'll do is we'll find, um, a young girl.
And call her.
You give them your name and you just say, hi my name is Aimee.
I'm with Rise Up. And we're just here to help you.
If you want to get, get out of the game,
if you're ready to leave, we can help you.
Sometimes we leave voicemails on their, on their phones.
Other times we get a pimp.
And sometimes we'll get cast out, hung up on.
But they've at least had the opportunity to hear
the phone number.
And to hear that we can help them at any time.
Mariana: You say that sometimes you actually get pimps on the...
Aimee: Mm-hmm. Sometimes they try to recruit you.
Mariana: No way. Aimee: Yeah.
Mariana: What will they say?
Aimee: They'll be like, hey, come work with me.
I bet, you sound beautiful.
What girl doesn't want to hear she's beautiful.
So, and sometimes they'll threaten you, I mean you just...
Mariana: That's crazy. Aimee: She looks super young.
Mariana: She does too, yeah. I mean look at those photos.
She looks so young.
Aimee: Mm-hmm. We can call her. We can try.
Mariana: Yeah, let's do it. Aimee: Okay.
Mariana: So this one says she's 19 years old?
Aimee: Mm-hmm.
It's always a little nerve wracking when you call, too.
'Cause you don't know what's on the other side,
you don't know what they're going to say and...
Or if there's going to be a pimp.
And so I always get a little nervous each time.
Mariana: Are you nervous right now?
Aimee: Oh yeah. Phone rings
Mariana: I'm sure you're especially nervous now.
Aimee: Oh, yeah, yeah. Summer: Hello?
Aimee: Hello, may I please speak with Summer?
Summer: This is Summer. Who is this?
Aimee: Hi Summer, my name is Aimee, and, um,
I'm calling with Rise Up.
And I was just calling to let you know that if you ever wanted
to get out of the game, um, we have a help line.
Or if you ever need food or clothing or anything like that.
Um, we can always help you out, if there's anything you need.
And she hung up on me.
Mariana: Before you even finished talking?
Aimee: Mm-hmm. Mariana: So that happens a lot?
Aimee: A lot.
Mariana: Why do you think that happens?
Aimee: Um, sometimes there's a pimp right next to them
and they know they're going to get beat if anything happens.
Other times they think that we're judging them;
sometimes they think we're the police.
But I mean especially if they're young or there's a pimp
right there, they'll hang up on you right away.
Phone rings
Aimee: Hello? This is Amy with Rise Up. Hello? Kayla?
Mariana: Aimee receives a call from Kayla,
a 19 year old sex trafficking victim.
Aimee: Oh no.
Mariana: Before the call suddenly cuts off Aimee
finds out that Kayla has been arrested.
Aimee: We need to find her.
She's, she's, she's in Mecklenburg County Jail.
I don't know what's going on.
It, it disconnected, and so I'm trying to find her case.
Mariana: Amy is able to look up Kayla on the jail's website,
and finds out that she has already been released.
Aimee: She's young, she's pregnant. She's been trafficked.
Mariana: Aimee fears that if we don't arrive on time Kayla
will be a target.
Aimee: If we didn't go pick up Kayla she would just be
on the streets.
And these pimps are preying on young girls on the streets.
Mariana: We're at a county jail just outside
of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Aimee: What happened, girl?
Mariana: Aimee, a sex trafficking outreach worker
is here to get Kayla, a 19 year old victim.
Kayla has just been released, and has nowhere to go.
Kayla: I've never been in that setting.
And it was just scary for me 'cause I didn't know
what was going to happen.
Mariana: Statistically once on the streets one third of girls
will be approached by a pimp within 48 hours.
Kayla had her first experience with pimps in the small town
where she grew up.
Kayla: Um, after school say I didn't get a ride home
or something. 'Cause I was on the basketball team.
So most of the time I would wait at the gas station for a ride.
So that's when the pimps would come by or, and approach me.
Mariana: What would they say?
Kayla: Try to sweet talk you into going back to the motel
or whatever. For money.
Mariana: How much of the money would you get to keep?
Kayla: As far as like an hour, whatever sexual favors you'll do
for them, you can make up to 200 dollars in one, in one night.
Mariana: And you can keep all that money?
All the money you make?
Kayla: No, you have to give half to them. But...
Mariana: How old were you when people first approached you?
Kayla: 16. Mariana: You were 16 years old?
Kayla: Yes. They go for the ones who look younger.
Who they feel are more vulnerable.
Mariana: How many girls have you met who have had that sort
of story?
Kayla: As far as the young ones my age,
about four that I can think of off the top of my head.
That's what our little town is known for.
Prostitution, drugs, things like that.
Mariana: There's a lot of girls being trafficked from there?
Kayla: Yes.
Mariana: And where do you think they are right now?
Kayla: They could be anywhere now.
I mean if the pimp wants to drive to Charlotte or drive
somewhere else, they're wherever their pimp is.
Mariana: So they take them all over the United States?
Kayla: Yes.
Mariana: Kayla is just one girl from a town of a few thousand
people.
And she knows four other girls who have been forced into
sex trafficking.
What do you think will happen to Kayla?
Aimee: I don't know.
I'm really hoping we can get her into a facility that would be
able to get her the help that she needs.
If she doesn't get the right treatment or the right help then
she'll end up going onto the streets,
and she'll end up being prostituted.
Mariana: We ride with Aimee as she takes Kayla to a local
shelter.
Aimee: She has a lot of post traumatic stress disorder.
Her mom died at a very young age.
She was sexually abused quite a bit.
And so I mean there's a lot of hurdles in her way to overcome.
She may be 19, but emotionally she's like a little girl.
Like a little, a little lost girl looking for her mom.
Mariana: Aimee find a place for Kayla to stay,
but just for one night.
She's just 19 years old, she's out her without really a family
to support her, she doesn't have a place to sleep.
A guy goes up to her and tells her that he'll get her food
and a place to sleep and clothes.
I mean it's, it's an easy yes.
She's a perfect target for a pimp.
There is no standard formula to how a pimp or a trafficker
recruits a girl.
But traffickers are nearly always master manipulators.
Jillian: Every single person that walks the face of the earth
has an aspect of vulnerability.
We all have something that can make us vulnerable.
Traffickers and pimps and anybody that is in that industry
knows how to find that weak spot.
And it's like, okay, I found your weak spot.
Now I'm just going to continue to do what I have to do
to really get down deep, and then I'm going to exploit it.
Mariana: For someone on the outside looking in,
there are a few questions that always seem to come up.
Like how does a young girl end up with a trafficker
in the first place?
Tre'Sean, who was a victim for three years,
says her pimp started out as her boyfriend.
Tre'Sean: He would take me out wherever I wanted to go,
like he spoiled me a lot.
Whatever I asked for, he would get it for me.
Mariana: But after they started living together and the couple
moved to a different state, everything changed.
Tre'Sean: Once we got out to Texas,
like his whole demeanor switched up.
He would punch me in the face, kick me,
whatever he felt like he wanted to do to me.
I would try to fight back, but it just made it worse.
So after a while it was like, what's the point?
That's when he told me I wasn't making enough money,
so I had to go sell my body to make money.
Mariana: And where was that money going to?
Tre'Sean: To him. Everything. Everything went to him.
Mariana: The other common question that people often ask
is, why don't girls like Tre'Sean just leave?
Tre'Sean: I knew how dangerous he was, and how violent he was.
He used to threaten my family a lot.
Like if I leave he would do something to them.
So I just kept everything a secret.
Mariana: Or why don't they just call the police?
Tre'Sean tried that, once.
Tre'Sean: I had called the police, and so they came.
They came and, um, I told the police exactly what was
happening, I was being abused, he won't let me leave.
And the police officer told me there wasn't nothing
he could do, basically. And he left me there.
And I got in trouble for trying to leave.
Mariana: He beat you up.
Tre'Sean: Yes. So after that I was pretty much done with like,
seeking the police for help.
Mariana: Tre'Sean was only able to get out after
she was arrested and served time behind bars.
So you ended up doing a lot of time in jail.
And he never did, not even a day in jail.
Tre'Sean: Not a day at all.
Mariana: There's something seriously wrong about that.
Tre'Sean: Yes, I agree.
Mariana: And that leads us to the final big question.
What are authorities doing to address the problem
of sex trafficking?
Agent: The key part is rescuing the girls,
and taking the pimps out.
Mariana: We're about to join the FBI for a night at one
of America's most notorious prostitution tracks.
On radio: We have a case made.
Patrick: We're going to go ahead and drive around one of our
areas that are frequented by prostitutes.
It's a street called Bissonnet, nationally known.
A lot of pimps when they come to Houston they bring their girls
over to this street.
Mariana: We're with an agent from the FBI who is giving us a
covert tour of one of Houston's many street prostitution tracks.
Patrick: Here's a girl right here, walking right here.
A tall skinny girl.
Here's one coming out of the hotel right now.
The later it gets the more girls we'll get out here.
Mariana: So when you see the prostitutes here how often
do you see their pimps as well? Patrick: Frequently.
Pimps are going to be nearby just because, uh,
these girls are a commodity, they're, you know,
they want to keep an eye on their girls
and see what they're up to.
Mariana: When the FBI targets pimps,
agents say they have to first start with the victims.
Carlos: They key part is rescuing the girls and taking
the pimps out.
But unfortunately to help these girls out they have
to be arrested.
I mean that's what makes this crime you know, unique.
You have to criminalize the victim in order to you know,
help the victim.
Mariana: It seems almost counterintuitive,
but authorities feel that often the only way to get a young
woman out of the clutches of a trafficker is to arrest her.
Sharmin: Prostitutes have historically been arrested.
I think that there is now an awakening.
Everyone from law enforcement to juries and judges,
to communities are seeing these girls as victims.
And recognize that they deserve to be protected.
And that they deserve treatment, not punishment.
But we still don't have the types of facilities we need.
Unfortunately right now the answer is jail.
Until they have a place to be. That's not the right answer.
Uh, but it keeps them alive until we have a better answer.
Mariana: Once the victim is arrested she can be separated
from the trafficker, and the FBI hopes she will be willing
to give information that leads to the arrest of her pimp.
Carlos: The pimps are the cause of this.
So we're after the pimps.
We want information on the pimps.
Mariana: Back on the outskirts of Houston we are at a staging
area where FBI agents and local police officers are preparing
for a joint operation.
Patrick: So we're going to, uh, send two undercovers in.
Have them try to make a prostitution case on our target.
Mariana: Tonight's mission will be to look for sex trafficking
victims along the Bissonnet prostitution track.
Officer: If something bad goes down just get the hell out.
And then we'll deal with it.
Mariana: We wait in the staging area as undercover agents go out
looking for a young prostitute.
Radio: Okay, it looks like she loaded.
Mariana: What does that mean?
Officer: That means she got in with the undercover...
Mariana: With the agent? Officer: Mm-hmm.
Radio: All right, we have a case made.
All right, he's still saying we have a case made.
We're going to be northbound on the beltway.
Mariana: So we just got word that they, uh,
arrested a girl and they're bringing her back right now.
The undercover agents were out for you know,
less than five minutes.
And they were able to get a girl who came into the car,
propositioned herself to them.
They were able to as they say make a case.
The idea here is to bring these girls back and see if they can,
uh, find who their trafficker is, who they're working for.
And try to take down the network of pimps.
Girl: So I'm going to jail tonight?
Emma: Mm-hmm. It's okay, take a deep breath for me.
Mariana: She's obviously young. Um, sort of scared.
She says this isn't the first time she's been arrested.
It's a really sad situation.
Emma: Who are you here with? You're here with somebody.
Girl: My boyfriend.
Emma: No. This girl, she's 18, or she says she's 18.
She had no ID on her.
Officer: All right. Place them down, here you go.
Emma: She did say that she'd been arrested before
for prostitution.
So we're fingerprinting her to see if her stuff comes back
to who she says she is.
Officer: All right.
Emma: And she was insisting that we call, I call her boyfriend.
And most of the time their boyfriend is their pimp.
Mariana: So why don't these girls tell you guys about
the pimps?
Emma: Because they do not see themselves as a victim.
Usually when we get them they're very angry with us because
we're taking them away from what they perceive as love and,
and you know, someone that cares about them.
Now she's scared because of course he's going to be mad
because she got arrested.
She, she is a white female, and white females are money makers.
You know, so she, and she's a pretty girl.
She's a pretty girl and she's, she's young and, um,
so I'm sure she makes a lot of money for him.
Mariana: While they await the results of her fingerprints,
Officer Rodriguez tries to get the girl to give her
more information.
Emma: So why'd you start prostituting?
Girl: I don't know. Emma: Sure you know.
Somebody tell you that you could make a lot of money?
They would take care of you, look after you? Hmm?
Mariana: She admits to Officer Rodriguez that she stopped
working at a grocery store and started prostituting
only two months ago.
But she refuses to reveal the information the authorities
are most after.
Emma: Who'd you come down here with?
Girl: My boyfriend. Emma: Where is he at?
Girl: I don't know.
Mariana: When her background check comes in it is confirmed
that because this is her second prostitution charge,
she will be facing nine months in jail.
Officer Rodriguez is torn about putting a victim behind bars.
But she feels that at least for tonight it's one less girl
on the streets.
Emma: I always tell them, you know,
I'm going to see you again.
I know I'm going to see you again.
I just hope that when I see you again I'm not identifying
you at the morgue.
That's where this is going to lead to if you don't stop.
Mariana: In Houston and other American cities,
street prostitution is just one avenue for sex trafficking.
But when authorities crack down on the track they find pimps
simply move their girls somewhere else,
like massage parlors.
Darren: Howdy, how are you?
Mariana: We're about to visit the world of exotic spas.
Jessica: The youngest one was 13. She looked older.
Mariana: What happened to her? Jessica: I don't know.
Mariana: Behind me is the Houston Police Department
and the FBI.
It's a joint operation they're doing tonight.
They're going to a spa massage parlor where they believe
there is, uh, some prostitution involving minors.
And they are going to go into the spa with, uh,
undercover agents.
We're back with the FBI and Houston PD.
And they have gotten a tip that a 16 year old girl is being
trafficked, this time in a massage parlor.
Patrick: In Houston we have a plethora of, of these type of,
of establishments.
Uh, from spas, massage parlors, stress management clinics,
studios. They have different names, but they're all illegal
houses of prostitution.
Mariana: Agents emerge from the spa and arrest two women
for prostitution.
But the American teenager they were looking for is nowhere
to be found.
Patrick: Unfortunately the reality is this business
will be open probably within three or four hours.
And whoever owns it will send another individual here.
They'll open it back up and there will be more young ladies
working there within a few hours.
Jessica: Thinking back it makes me sick.
How many different people got in all the different places
in my body.
Mariana: For years Jessica was trafficked between spas all over
the country.
She says she was just one of hundreds of girls.
Jessica: I mean we had girls in Las Vegas,
we had girls in Kansas, we had girls here in Houston, Texas.
We had girls in, um, Oklahoma.
I mean there was girls just coming in from all over
the place.
Mariana: What ages?
Jessica: The youngest one was 13. She looked older.
Mariana: What happened to her? Jessica: I don't know.
Mariana: In 2009 the FBI indicted the gang of pimps
responsible for trafficking Jessica.
They were charged with routinely beating the victims,
and kidnapping children at gunpoint,
forcing them to work in their spas.
Jessica: I was just a piece of property.
You know, that's why we got branded.
That's why all the girls that were with part-- particular guys
got branded.
Mariana: What do you mean, got branded?
Jessica: I have a panther on my back,
and that was their little logo.
A majority of us girls had a panther tattooed on us, um,
with their names, or name.
Um, and, and it's like uncoverable.
I mean you can't cover it.
Mariana: So this was to show that you belonged...
Jessica: I, I'm their property.
Mariana: And you see it says Big Jim.
In 2013 three of the traffickers were sentenced to eight years
in prison.
Many, including Jessica hoped they would have received
a harsher penalty.
Jessica: I think they should have gotten the death penalty.
Dennis: Any of these illicit massage parlors,
the whole atmosphere is, you can almost feel this, um, dinginess,
dirtiness.
Mariana: Dennis Mark is an outreach worker who has focused
his efforts on helping women who are being trafficked
in Houston's massage parlors, which he says have exploded
in popularity.
Dennis: I got a map here we, we, uh, created, uh,
kind of for our own use.
And it really was, um, information we had gathered
from off the internet.
Mariana: So each one of these pins represents a,
a massage parlor or a, a, a commercial brothel,
as you call them. Dennis: Correct.
And so this all, it really is only the places that are
classified as massage parlors, relaxation spas and modeling
studios.
We're right in this area right here.
This is the more affluent area of Houston proper.
Mariana: To get a glimpse of what it looks like inside one of
these spas, Darren is going to pose as a potential customer.
Darren: This is a little button camera that I'm going to be
wearing on my, my body.
There's a camera right behind that little button there.
So we got the hidden camera rolling, and we're, uh,
heading in. Wish me luck.
Hello? Hello?
In the first place I went into nobody would even come out
to talk to me.
Hello?
There was a security camera, and I think maybe I just didn't fit
the profile.
They wouldn't even let me past the lobby.
We understand that alarm bells go off if they suspect somebody
is a first timer.
So for the next one I'm going to act like I've done this before,
and I know what I'm talking about.
When you walk into these places, the first thing you see is a big
window.
And these girls just parade out in front of you behind
the glass. Howdy.
And I guess the idea is that you take your pick.
And how much is it? How much?
Girl: 150 half hour, 180 full hour.
Darren: Okay. And you guys dance too?
Girl: No.
Darren: No dance. Okay. All right, thank you.
Obviously you can't just ask for sex.
There's a lot of coded language being used.
And full service?
Girl: It's live one on one adult entertainment.
Darren: Okay.
A lot of these places will, um, have a variety of girls
to sort of meet the whatever demands of that clientele.
So you know, a lot of guys go in with a specific preference.
Is it just you or...
Girl: We have a Spanish, a mixed girl, another white girl,
and myself.
Darren: Okay. Hi.
Thick glass windows, steel bars.
Women dressed in very revealing clothing.
Things that just basically suggest that this isn't
your everyday massage parlor.
Mariana: Since Darren failed to get into the first spa,
I'm going to try myself, using a different tactic.
I'm going to say I'm a, a journalist working
for National Geographic, and see if anyone comes out
to talk to me.
I'm wearing no microphone, no wires on me,
because we hear that what happens a lot is you get frisked
because they want to make sure that you're not a cop.
I'm turning on the glasses right now.
Okay, they're on. And Darren, I'll call you.
Um, so you'll be able to hear me the whole time.
Darren: Yeah, I'll keep the, keep the line open,
and I'll keep it on mute. Mariana: Okay.
Mariana: Hi. Man: Do you work here?
Mariana: Uh, no.
Is there anyone here that I can talk to?
Do you work here?
Man: No, no, I was a customer.
Mariana: Oh, you don't. Oh, okay. Thank you.
Hello?
Girl: Hey. Mariana: Hi.
Girl: Can I help you?
Mariana: Yeah, uh, can I, can I talk to you?
Girl: What are you here for?
Mariana: I, my name is Mariana.
I'm from, uh, National Geographic.
I'm working on a film about, uh, salons and spas.
Girl: Oh no, we're not interested. Thank you.
Mariana: You're not interested? Girl: No.
Mariana: Okay. Thank you. Girl: You're welcome.
Mariana: As I leave the spa, the man who I saw in the lobby waves
me over to his car. What's that?
Man: What's your name? Mariana: Hi, I'm Mariana.
Man: You're gorgeous. Mariana: So you were in there?
Thank you. Thank you.
Darren: She's talking to some random dude.
Man: Don't be afraid. Come on in.
Darren: It sounds like he might be a pimp.
Man: Come on in. Don't be afraid, come on in.
Mariana: I don't feel comfortable. I'm so sorry.
We're outside of a massage parlor in Houston.
And a strange man is trying to get me into his car.
I'm new to town. I don't know how things work here.
A friend of mine said that this is a good place.
That they have a lot of...
Man: Yeah. It's classy, you know.
I'm a lawyer, and you know, you would see lawyers and doctors
in there. It's a high end spa?
Mariana: Is it?
Man: But that neon sign everybody kind of knows
the idea.
Mariana: The neon sign? Man: Yeah.
Mariana: Tells it all.
Man: Some customers don't want much.
Some you know, want everything.
You know what I mean?
Mariana: And how much do they charge, the girls inside?
Man: It's, uh, 50 to get in. Mariana: Yeah.
Man: And then usually full service people will pay
like two.
Mariana: 200? Man: Yeah.
Mariana: So basically women here get paid 200 dollars for doing
quote everything.
But if they are being trafficked it's likely they see little
of that money.
Man: I'm feeling it, you know what I mean?
Because you are clean and stuff.
Darren: He thinks she looks clean.
Man: I would, you know, treat you just like you know,
over there.
Darren: He's propositioning her.
Mariana: Um, let me think about it.
How much would you pay?
Man: 200. Mariana: Two?
Okay, let me think about it. Man: You're not a cop, are you?
Mariana: I'm not, I'm not a cop.
After I confirmed that I can't arrest him,
he says something that makes me think.
Man: You're going to be my girl. I'm going to take care of you.
Mariana: Uh, you're going to take care of me?
Man: I promise you.
Darren: It sounds like he might be a pimp.
Man: If you take care of me, I'll take care of you.
Mariana: Okay.
But you're just a customer, you're not a pimp, are you?
Man: No, no. I swear to God. Mariana: Okay.
Man: I'm a professional. Mariana: Okay.
As I leave he gives me his phone number, and a kiss on the hand.
Thank you. Man: All right.
Mariana: Thanks. Thank you so much.
Darren: She's coming back.
Mariana: Oh my god, that was crazy.
That was totally crazy. Could you hear?
Darren: I was able to hear pieces.
Mariana: This guy told me that if I worked five guys a day
that I could make 1000 dollars a day and it's pretty good.
Darren: But he seemed like he was really familiar with
what went on there. Mariana: I don't know.
Um, I mean he did say he knew the owner.
He kept on saying he wanted me, he could get me a job and
he wanted me to be his girl.
Darren: To me it just illustrates that like even
if you went under there, uh, under your own volition,
like how quickly you can be scooped up by a pimp.
Even though he said he's a lawyer,
I mean that's classic from what we've, uh, heard.
That, the way they operate, you know?
Mariana: Later that night we look up the man from the spa.
It turns out that he is actually in the financial industry.
And while we have no hard evidence that he is a pimp,
it makes us think about the wealthy men
that Jillian Mourning says trafficked her.
Do you think that he'll ever serve time for
what he did to you?
Jillian: I sure hope so.
For me and for the other women that I keep reading about
and keep finding out about.
Mariana: Mark and Aimee, the activists in Charlotte,
are working on raising money to build a shelter for victims
like Kayla.
When we last checked in, Kayla had disappeared.
Mark and Aimee pray that she is safe and staying
off the streets.
Aimee: It breaks my heart.
But I know that okay, they may not change their lives right
away, they may go back to the streets, they may give up.
But they had an opportunity to know that someone loved them
unconditionally.
And they'll realize that someone is always waiting for them
to come home.
Mariana: And finally Tre'Sean, the survivor from Houston,
is going to school to become a radiologist.
And she keeps telling her story.
Tre'Sean: Like the whole time I was being trafficked
I was ashamed.
And so it's, now it's like I'm trying to break out of that.
By me sitting back like, oh no I don't want to tell my story,
oh no, that's too embarrassing, that would be like wearing
that shame.
If it can help someone else not to get into the situation that
I got into, I would do anything to make sure that happens. Subtitles End: mo.dbxdb.com