People come to Las Vegas for a good time, and our culture sells sex. We welcome people amidst all of this sexual immorality. Sex trafficking in Nevada is defined as the inducing or forcing of a person to engage in prostitution. However, when it comes to adult sex trafficking, experts say victims are harder to spot because of their age and what seems to be consensual understanding.
Annie Lobert, founder of the nonprofit Hookers for Jesus, which helps anyone in the sex industry, claims that many of them are held against their will. Pimps use coercion, threats and physical harm. They isolate you from family and friends. They threaten to hurt you or your child or your pet if you leave. How is that freedom? Experts say prostitution is also a heated topic in regards to sex trafficking because men who use their services want to believe that prostitutes participate willingly.
They just thought, I have the money and resources to get something quickly without having to be nice or take out the trash, like what real relationships require.
Modern-day pimps are hard to spot because they do not look stereotypical. Some hang out at malls, bus stops or near schools, where they look for specific character traits in their victims: low self-esteem, a troubled life or someone who is in need of love and attention. From , the Metropolitan Police Department recovered adult victims of sex trafficking. For and , Metro identified victims. In , 53 percent were black, 31 percent were Caucasian, 20 percent were Latin American, and 1 percent were listed as other.
A pimp picked up Susie last name withheld , a resident of Destiny House, when she was She had just gone through a divorce and was feeling extra vulnerable at the time, she said. Others, such as Jessica Neely, used a different method. Neely worked as a youth minister and promoted abstinence in local schools with her church group. Her life goal changed when she was raped in her early 20s.
