‘There’s a way to hold them to justice’: Bend sex-trafficking case brings more awareness to national hotline
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- Staff at Bend anti-human trafficking nonprofit In Our Backyard say the recent rescue of a 31-year-old Salem woman from a suspected trafficker is a beacon of light for victims who might be afraid to get help.
"This should be a huge example for victims across the nation, that the 1-800 National Human Trafficking Hotline - it does work. There is an open door. You are able to walk through that," Sara Perkins, who works with the group, said Tuesday.
Cheryl Csiky, the group's executive director, says this case proves their advocacy is working.
"It really is a community call of, we're doing the right thing. Central Oregon has been posting the hotline," she said. "To see it again here really helps a survivor feel trust that there is someone looking out for them, that there is someone who sees them like that."
According to police, the woman sent multiple texts to the human trafficking hotline early last Thursday to report she was being held against her will at the Bend Red Lion Inn & Suites on Butler Market Road.
She told police she was repeatedly punched and forced into sexual acts for two days.
Bend police were able to rescue the woman and arrest a suspect on assault and promoting prostitution charges.
Perkins said, "In my experience, smaller towns, communities like Bend, was the No. 1 most moved to location," Perkins said, "This is a perfect area to stay super-low key, still a lot of money in the community. So yeah, is that happening in Bend? Absolutely."
According to another local advocacy group, At:Project, here in Deschutes County, trafficking looks different from what's portrayed by movies and TV, making outreach different for every situation.
Program director Breanne Barrett says most victims are afraid to get law enforcement involved, so groups like At:Project respond instead.
"We don't see quite as much of the hotel piece as we do, you know, familial trafficking or trafficking that's happening, and in private homes and residences as well," Barrett said Tuesday. "So it does look a little bit different, being in a rural aream just because we don't have that big0city part that we see other places. "
Both groups say because of the pandemic, online grooming and trafficking are on the rise. In the case last week, the woman appeared in an online ad being sold for sex.
"Now everything's moved online, and so we also see a lot of grooming, and we see a lot of youth who are on social media platforms being groomed that way or advertised in the same way," Barrett said.
In 2020, the Oregon Department of Justice identified 746 victims of human trafficking across Oregon, 48 in Deschutes County.
Cheryl Csiky said, "It is such an atrocity and such a crime, and we want to be loud and heard that, you know, there is a hotline here. We will not stand for traffickers to think that they can treat people in this manner and get away with it. And there's a way to hold them to justice. "
