TAT in Action

TAT in Action showcases the stories of individuals who have taken steps to fight human trafficking within the key industries and agencies that work alongside TAT. These stories include recipients of the prestigious Harriet Tubman Award, which honors those who have gone above and beyond to help recover victims or prevent trafficking from taking place, as well as other stories of everyday heroes who, through their awareness and quick actions, have made a real difference in the lives of trafficking victims.

By recognizing the signs and reporting suspicious activity, these individuals have played a vital role in combating human trafficking. Their stories serve as a powerful reminder that everyone can contribute to this fight, no matter their role or background.

You can learn more about TAT’s Harriet Tubman Award by visiting our awards page.

Harriet Tubman Award Winners

Harriet Tubman Award winner 2024 Charles Berson
Charles Bernsen, general manager of the Petro in Florence, South Carolina and winner of the 2024 TAT Harriet Tubman Award presented by Progressive Commercial with Nikki, the human trafficking survivor he helped.

2024

Charles Bernsen

Harriet Tubman Award winner 2023 - Joe Aguayo

2023

Joe Aguayo

Harriet Tubman Award winners 2022 - Nicole Cavicante, Laura Figueroa and Kirk Rayer

2022

Nicole Cavicante, Laura Figueroa and Kirk Rayer

Harriet Tubman Award winner 2021 - Jessica Chapman

2021

Jessica Chapman

Harriet Tubman Award winners 2019 - Lauren Gnall and Larren Tarver

2019

Larren Tarver and Lauren Gnall

Harriet Tubman Award winner 2019 - Arian Taylor

2018

Arian Taylor

Harriet Tubman Award winners 2016 - Debo Adepiti and Alan Bailey

2016

Debo Adepiti and Alan Bailey

Harriet Tubman Award winner 2015 - Kevin Kimmel

2015

Kevin Kimmel

Harriet Tubman Award icon

2014

Tracy Mullins

TAT in Action

Sunset Empire Transportation District bus

Sunset Empire Transportation District

Trucks refueling at a truck stop

William

Driver in vehicle with phone

Keith Avila

TAT in Action - Jeanay Angel

Jeanay Angel

TAT in Action - Trooper Zachary Heard

Zachary Heard

Convenience store

Truck Stop Cashier

Trucker in cab

Trucker

San Diego bus stop

Transit Security

City bus driving near large skyscrapers

Transit Security - Canada

Transit station seats

Transit Customer Service

Charles Bernsen

Petro general manager

Charles Bernsen, general manager of the Petro in Florence, South Carolina, has been named the winner of the 2024 TAT Harriet Tubman Award presented by Progressive Commercial.

Bernsen, one of 18,000 TA employees who receive TAT’s human trafficking training annually, noticed a distressed young woman hanging around the store. She would disappear for periods of time into the restroom but then reappear in the lobby area. After a couple days of seeing her repeatedly, Bernsen approached her and asked if she needed help. She burst into tears, telling him she had escaped a man who had been holding her captive in a hotel across the street from the TA where he’d been selling her for sex. Bernsen offered her food, clothing, a blanket and information about TAT. He had her call the National Human Trafficking Hotline and speak to them, and then purchased a bus ticket for her to get home and provided money for expenses along the way. The young woman, Nikki, later made a video with TAT about her experience and said Bernsen’s soft-spoken demeanor and compassion enabled her to trust him.

Bernsen said the TAT training definitely better prepared him for this situation. “Once you’ve been exposed to all this evil,” he shared, “it’s always in the back of your mind that this could be happening, and it could happen in the blink of an eye. The education, the videos and conferences we’ve gone to have been a huge help.”

Speaking about the award, he said, “It’s very humbling. The main thing about this is that it can make everyone else in our company aware that we can make a difference if we pay attention and treat people better. That’s the main takeaway for me.”

In the photo, Charles Bernsen, general manager of the Petro in Florence, South Carolina and winner of the 2024 TAT Harriet Tubman Award presented by Progressive Commercial with Nikki, the human trafficking survivor he helped

Joe Aguayo

WinCo Foods driver

In mid-September 2022, WinCo Foods driver Joe Aguayo was driving in an *area of the country known for its hot springs and no cellphone service. As he rounded a curve, he saw a woman standing near the fog line of the road, staring up at the mountains. Her head was shaved and she had nothing on but a beach towel. It was evening time; there were no cars or other people around; and Aguayo had a sinking feeling something was off.

“Honestly, I had no idea what the situation was,” he offered. “I just knew in my gut something was super wrong. My first instinct was to call authorities and get them there as fast as they could.”

Obeying an explicit company policy prohibiting unapproved riders in the truck, Aguayo continued on his way, fully intending to help the woman. On this remote stretch of road, he had to drive an additional 10 minutes or so, until he came upon the next police call box, placed every so many miles along the roadside to compensate for the lack of cell service. Pulling his truck over, he alerted authorities to the woman and her location and then continued on his way, not knowing the outcome of the situation, but confident he had done what he could to help.

A few months later, driving near that same stretch of road, Aguayo had a weather-related accident. As he was conversing with the trooper assisting him, he inquired if the officer knew what happened to the woman found near the hot springs a few months prior. To his surprise, this trooper had also assisted the woman and was amazed to be reunited with the person who had placed the call for help.

The trooper related that when the woman was recovered, she was brought to his location, where she was identified as a 27-year-old victim of human trafficking and exhibited behavior consistent with having been drugged. She mentioned she was from an area nearly three hours away. The woman was in very rough shape, and the trooper said her condition and the nature of her wounds took his breath away. The trooper transported her to the hospital, where she was kept for several days before being released and issued a case worker.

Aguayo also learned that the same day he made the call, an earlier call had come in reporting a naked woman wandering around the hot springs. But when law enforcement responded to the scene at that time, they were unable to locate the woman.

Law enforcement reported this to be the second Indigenous human trafficking victim found naked in this area. The first one was reported two years earlier in the same month in the same circumstances, and law enforcement believe the remote location, coupled with limited access to cell service, has made the area a dumping ground for perpetrators. The investigation is ongoing. The trooper told Aguayo that he likely saved the woman’s life. Had he waited until his own cell phone had service again — and not used the roadside call box — her story likely would have ended differently.

WinCo Foods began rolling out TAT information and materials in the summer of 2022. Having now connected the dots between his experience, the issue of trafficking and the fact that the area has been identified by law enforcement as a dumping ground, Aguayo wonders how many other cases have been missed over the years.

*As this is still an ongoing investigation, many identifying elements have been removed.

Nicole Cavicante, Laura Figueroa and Kirk Rayer

EMBARK employees

Nicole Cavicante, Laura Figueroa and Kirk Rayer, EMBARK employees in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, are the 2022 winners of TAT’s highest award — the Harriet Tubman Award presented by Protective Insurance.

In early 2021, EMBARK, the transit authority in Oklahoma City, trained all of its staff and drivers with TAT’s training materials for transit. Later that year, while driving his regular route, Kirk Rayner, an EMBARK bus driver, picked up a passenger in distress and turned that training into action. As the woman boarded the bus, she was crying and Rayner could see she seemed frightened. She was dirty, disheveled, and had cuts and bruises on her body. She kept looking around as if she were afraid someone was watching her. When Rayner engaged her in conversation, she told him that he couldn’t help her … she was running away from “bad people” and believed they were tracking her.

When he arrived at the transit center, Rayner contacted his route supervisor, Nicole Cavicante, and told her it was urgent. Cavicante spoke with the woman, who was trembling as she described being transported state-to-state by people who were controlling her. She was confused about her whereabouts and said that when she boarded the EMBARK bus, she was trying to get somewhere safe. Thinking about a transportation contract EMBARK has with the Palomar Family Justice Center, an Oklahoma City-based organization that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, Cavicante enrolled Laura Figueroa, the bus driver dedicated to the Palomar contract. Figueroa helped make the woman feel safe, and she confided additional information that indicated she was likely a victim of sex trafficking. Figueroa transported her to Palomar, where the staff gave her some food, conducted an intake and coordinated next steps with law enforcement and a shelter.

Jessica Chapman

Sapp Bros. Travel Center employee

Jessica Chapman, a Sapp Bros. Travel Center cashier in Junction City, Kansas, is the 2021 winner of TAT’s highest award — the Harriet Tubman Award presented by Protective Insurance.

Earlier this year, Chapman noticed a woman in the travel center who seemed distressed. Seeing a man near her, Chapman caught the woman’s eye and asked her if she was all right. The woman approached Chapman and acknowledged that she wasn’t. Because the man was in the store, and so as not to arouse suspicion, Chapman took down a rewards application and acted like she was helping the woman fill it out, all the while gathering information about the situation in order to call law enforcement. Her quick and very intelligent response led to the arrest of the man, and allowed the woman, who had been sexually exploited, to get to a safe place.

“The training from Sapp Bros. about human trafficking helped me recognize something was wrong, and then my instincts took over. I was just really glad I could help. I’m very appreciative to win the 2021 Harriet Tubman Award,” said Chapman.

Press coverage on this incident:
Sapp Bros. cashier recognized for helping a woman who was sexually exploited

Larren Tarver and Lauren Gnall

Lakefront Lines employees

Larren Tarver, Lakefront Lines bus driver, and Lauren Gnall, district safety director for Lakefront Lines and Coach USA, have received the 2019 TAT Harriet Tubman Award presented by Protective Insurance.

When the Lakefront Lines Bus Team in Ohio, which had recently completed TAT’s training for transit/motorcoach, was notified that a female passenger on one of their buses was allegedly being held against her will and forced into prostitution by a male passenger on the same bus, they immediately sprang into action. As bus driver Larren Tarver calmly stopped the bus, he reassured the other passengers, while being as inconspicuous as possible about the reasons for the delay. He notified dispatch and triggered an internal response system within the Lakefront Lines Safety Team that swiftly communicated with law enforcement and ensured police were on the scene as quickly as possible. Lauren Gnall, district safety director, and a colleague met the bus on the side of the highway almost immediately. Before the bus got back on the road – and safely transported the other passengers to their destination – the suspect was arrested; the alleged victim was recovered; and the case was referred for further investigation.

“TAT provides excellent training through their ,” said Gnall. “It opened the eyes of all the employees here at Lakefront Lines and Coach USA. We did not think this would happen in our area, but being aware of what is going on around us at all times and knowing what to look for really is the key. “

Tarver declared, “The training really helped me in feeling aware and alert of my surroundings. It really opened my senses to be on the look-out for possible dangers to myself and other people. I felt empowered by thinking of the family members of the victim, and if I wouldn’t have acted in the way I did, I would have probably never had a chance later, and the victim could still be in danger til this day. I can say in my three years of professional driving, I thought I would never encounter a situation like this, although I knew the possibilities were high, especially after driving through major cities such as New York and Las Vegas. Some red flags that are imprinted in my mind for future situations like this one are to have a sense of all your passengers, look for any discomfort, nervousness, or anything that may seem odd in people acting strangely on my bus. I believe if everyone steps up to the plate and does the right thing, together, we can make a huge difference in the society we live in. “

Press release on this event:
Protective Insurance and Truckers Against Trafficking Announce Award Recipients

Arian Taylor

Ballard Trucking driver

Ballard Trucking driver Arian Taylor from Nicholasville, Kentucky has been named the 2018 Harriet Tubman award winner by Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) for helping a woman escape from an attempt to forcibly sex traffick her.

In January of 2018, Taylor pulled into a California business to make a delivery at 3:30 am Shortly thereafter, he received a knock on his cab door from a 19-year-old woman. He learned from her that her friend’s older boyfriend was trying to force her into prostitution. After she had refused and argued with him, he dumped her in the parking lot and sped off. She was cold, exhausted, had no money or identification, was carrying everything she owned in her arms and was desperate to get back home to a neighboring state. Taylor assured her of his help. After getting her warm and giving her water to drink, he looked at one of the two TAT stickers prominently displayed on his windows (which the victim had been eye-level with when she knocked on his door) and called the National Human Trafficking Hotline. They worked with him to secure the woman shelter for the night, a pre-paid cab ride to get her to that shelter and a chaperoned train ride back to her home the next day, where she was reunited with a family member. Taylor took care of the young woman until she was placed in the cab, and even gave her his personal cell phone number in case she needed anything else.

Taylor stated, “Freedom is a privilege that every human being should have and being identified with a freedom fighter like Harriet Tubman has totally enriched my life to keep that fight alive at all costs.”

Press release on this event:
2018 Harriet Tubman Award Winner

Debo Adepiti and Alan Bailey

TravelCenters of America employees

Debo Adepiti and Alan Bailey, two TA Travel Plaza employees in Jessup, Maryland, have been awarded the Truckers Against Trafficking Harriet Tubman Award for their actions last year which resulted in the arrest of traffickers and the recovery of victims.

Adepiti and Bailey were presented the award and check on Sept. 20 at the Jessup travel plaza. “The training and procedures behind Truckers Against Trafficking are based on a very simple instruction: if you see or suspect something, call,” said Tom Liutkus, senior vice president of marketing and public relations for TravelCenters of America. “Alan and Debo did just that. Their actions led to the arrest of a three-person trafficking ring that was canvassing the entire Baltimore area and that law enforcement was already pursuing. Most importantly, newspaper accounts of the story indicate multiple women had been trafficked across that area. Alan and Debo’s call has forever resulted in changing the lives of those victims for the better. By strict definition of the word, their action was not ‘heroic,’ but the results were. We at TA/Petro are very proud of them.”

Field manager Adepiti at the TA Travel Plaza was making a premise check, including the fuel desk, mechanics shop and hotel, when Alan Bailey, the night porter, told him a young lady had recently come in dressed provocatively; the porter suspected prostitution. After speaking with both the driver of the van that brought the girl, as well as the young lady when she left the hotel, Adepiti believed the girl was being trafficked. He contacted Howard County police. When detectives arrived, they recognized a woman from one of the “X-Factor” ads they’d been investigating for two months on Backpage.com. As a result of Adepiti’s call, they arrested two men and a woman on human trafficking charges. The trio were advertising multiple women from various states, posting ads, renting hotel rooms, scheduling appointments for prostitution and taking money from the women after they were forced to perform sex acts. Detectives also learned all three individuals provided drugs to keep the women high, making them work without sleep, assaulting them and forcing them to perform sex acts with them under threat. Police were able to locate and recover 20 of the women being abused by the ring of traffickers.

Press coverage on this incident:
Human trafficking uncovered by truck stop call

Kevin Kimmel

Con-Way Truckload driver

Con-way Truckload driver Kevin Kimmel from Tavares, Florida has been named the 2015 Harriet Tubman Award winner by Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) for his actions which saved a woman from torture and modern-day slavery.

Kevin Kimmel had finished his deliveries and found a truck stop to take his break. He was filling out his paperwork, when he noticed a man going back and forth from an RV in the parking lot to the convenience store. He also noticed different men knocking on the door of the RV, but it was when he saw a young woman try to stick her head out the window only to have it violently snapped back, a black curtain pulled in its place and a commotion ensue inside that Kevin made a phone call that resulted in a state trooper coming out.

According to the incident report, officers were called to the scene at 3:20 p.m. and were allowed inside the RV by the occupants, Laura Sorensen and Aldair Hodza, who said they were in the area on vacation and to visit Sorensen’s daughter. The officers, however, observed that the alleged victim appeared frightened and exhibited signs of malnutrition. A State Police trooper took the young woman outside, where she began to weep and beg the trooper not to let her return to the RV. She told the trooper she was being held against her will and had been abused sexually and physically by the suspects. She also said the suspects threatened to kill or injure her family. She said she had infections all over her body and couldn’t remember the last time she had anything to eat or drink, adding that several days had passed.

After being placed in an ambulance, she told another investigator that the suspects had “branded” her on her back and inflicted burns on other parts of her body, along with lacerating her feet. She also said no one back home in Iowa considered her missing, since the suspects forced her to communicate with family members, telling them that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. According to the report, she later told a State Police investigator she was forced to perform oral sex on Hodza, whom she called “John,” and another unknown male that same day inside the RV at the truck stop parking lot.

Today, thanks to Kevin’s call, that young woman is at home with her family in Clive, IA … and Laura Sorensen and Aldair Hodza were sentenced to 40 and 41 years in prison, respectively.

Kimmel received the Harriet Tubman Award and the check from Mark Brown, TAT Board president, and Kylla Lanier, TAT deputy director, at a special ceremony at Con-Way Truckload’s headquarters in Joplin, Missouri on the morning of April 3. At that same ceremony, he was awarded the Truckload Carrier Association’s Highway Angel Award, http://www.truckload.org/Highway-Angel.

Tracy Mullins

General manager of the Petro Stopping Center®

Tracy Mullins is a Spokane, WA resident and a veteran of the transportation industry. She credits the TAT training required of all employees/managers of TravelCenters of America LLC or TA, with playing a pivotal role in her awareness of “something that could be wrong.”

Tracy was walking into a restaurant near her travel plaza to talk to the manager. She noticed two young girls sitting with an older man. “Not that the situation was odd,” she said, “but the man looked as if something could be wrong. I positioned myself close enough to the table to hear the young girls ask for a ride to Seattle. At this point, the images of all the young girls from the training video were going through my mind. I approached the table and asked the girls if everything was okay. One of the girls told me the man was her uncle. The man seemed very uncomfortable and removed himself from the situation. The young girls then asked other drivers for a ride.”

Tracy realized there was a problem and notified law enforcement. The girls turned out to be runaways from a neighboring state with only $5 between them.

“As a mother, I know we helped two young girls not become a statistic that day,”said Tracy.

Sunset Empire Transportation District

A TAT-trained employee at Sunset Empire Transportation District (SETD) in Oregon received calls from both a concerned father and the Seaside Police Department, who were looking for two 14-year-old girls. The father believed they had run away to meet an “Internet friend.”

Working with law enforcement, the SETD team reviewed the video surveillance and found the two girls were on a bus en route to Portland. The supervisor immediately called the TAT-trained bus driver on the route, who was able to confirm that the two girls were on the bus. The driver, SETD staff and law enforcement were able to coordinate holding the bus at a scheduled layover. The driver, a former school bus driver, engaged the girls in conversation until police arrived and were able to escort them safely home.

William

Truck driver

William had parked in a truck stop for the evening when an underage girl knocked on his truck door and solicited him for sex. After William told the girl he was not interested, he observed her knocking on the doors of several other trucks before getting into one. During this time, William also saw an adult man walking around the lot and noticed that he appeared to be watching the girl closely. Since William had received training from TAT, he recognized the signs of a potential trafficking situation and knew to call 911 first before making a call to the National Human Trafficking Hotline to report the situation. After collecting information from William about the situation he observed, the Hotline Advocate also made a report to the Hotline’s trusted law enforcement contacts in the area, who were able to coordinate with the local police in their investigation.

Keith Avila

Uber driver

Uber driver Keith Avila ended one of his shifts in Sacramento, California by helping save a 16-year-old girl from child sex trafficking. Avila said he picked up two women and the teen and drove them to a Holiday Inn in nearby Elk Grove. While in the car, the women openly talked about delivering the girl to a “John” and getting money from him. Once Avila dropped them off at the hotel, he called the police. “The worst thing I thought would happen when driving Uber is that I would be getting drunk passengers and would have to handle them,” Avila, who is 34 and a quinceañera photographer, told NBC Latino. “All my life, I thought about people throwing up in the car as the worst scenario.”

Elk Grove public information officer Chris Trim told NBC Latino that police immediately detained Destiny Pettway, 25, and Maria Westley, 31, when they arrived at the scene. Police found the teen trafficking victim with Disney Vang, 20, in a hotel room. Pettaway and Westley were arrested and charged with pimping and pandering, and their bail was set at $500,000. Vang was arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a minor and has since been released. The victim was discovered to be a runaway, and she was sent to stay in an “alternative housing situation” until her parents or guardians could be located, police said.

Jeanay Angel

Colorado Port of Entry officer

When an 18-wheeler rolled over the scale at a northern Colorado Port of Entry, TAT-trained Officer Jeanay Angel noticed that the passenger in the truck looked significantly younger than the driver. She became suspicious and asked the girl several times if she was okay, felt safe and wanted help. The girl declined to give a clear answer.

After they left, Officer Angel ran their IDs through a national database and found an outstanding arrest warrant from Oklahoma on the driver for child sexual abuse. She contacted the first port they would be in contact with next in Wyoming, who were able to stop the truck and arrest the driver. Using a victim-centered approach, the Wyoming State Patrol paid for a hotel room for the girl for the night and connected her with TAT to learn more about warning signs of grooming and trafficking.

Zachary Heard

Illinois State Police trooper

TAT-trained Illinois State Police Trooper Zachary Heard pulled over a pickup truck on a traffic violation. The vehicle included a male driver and a female passenger. Trooper Heard noticed the passenger trying to make herself small, as if she were distancing herself from the driver. He also noticed drug paraphernalia and discovered a large quantity of narcotics. Narcotics detectives arrested the driver.

Meanwhile, Trooper Heard spoke with the female, who had a large tattoo in Spanish covering her forearm. While Trooper Heard spoke Spanish, he discovered the victim did not. Her explanation of the tattoo was so convoluted that Trooper Heard suspected human trafficking. He offered to connect her with resources, but she refused. Respecting her choice, he helped her get to a safe place and they exchanged numbers. A few days later, Trooper Heard called her and introduced her to a TAT survivor-leader who spoke with her about service providers in her area.

Truck Stop Cashier

In August 2020, at a Montana TravelCenters of America location, a TAT-trained cashier facilitated the recovery of a suspected female victim of trafficking when the young woman approached the counter asking for help and indicated that she was under the control of a man on the premises. The cashier put his TAT training into action and swiftly reported his suspicions to management who contacted the sheriff’s office. Upon learning the young woman’s identity, law enforcement found she’d been reported as a missing person. After the young woman was reunited with her father in the Seattle, WA area, he called the truck stop to thank them for “saving his daughter’s life.”

Trucker

A truck driver contacted the hotline after being approached by a minor potential victim to engage in commercial sex. The driver gave the minor food and some money, asking if she needed help. She indicated she did not. The driver then observed the minor approach the potential trafficker, who pointed the girl in the direction of other trucks parked in the lot. The truck driver noted that the minor appeared to be afraid of the potential trafficker. The truck driver was still at the location; the hotline asked the driver to call 911 to see if they could send an officer to the location while the minor was still there. The driver confirmed with the hotline that law enforcement was going to send an officer. The hotline then followed up with reports to law enforcement contacts and CPS.

Transit Security

Not long after the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System rolled out its anti-trafficking program, which included the TAT Transit video, their security personnel made note of a man at one of their transit centers acting aggressively toward a young woman. When the same man later returned to the transit center and was seen approaching other young women, transit officers shared their observations with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, which coordinated with other law enforcement in California. The investigation culminated in the arrest of the man at a motel near Los Angeles,where he and an accomplice were holding a young woman against her will.

Transit Security - Canada

After receiving training on human trafficking, a Metrolinx revenue protection officer in Ontario met a young woman exhibiting some common red flags associated with human trafficking. She was traveling alone on a train with no fare payment, and with no money or ID. She said she was traveling to Niagara Falls to meet a man she met on the internet but had no plans once she arrived there. The revenue protection officer encouraged her to pause her trip. She agreed to get off the train, and the officer took her to meet a Metrolinx special constable. The special constable helped the young woman contact her mother and arranged for a taxi to bring her to a safe location.

Transit Customer Service

One week after a transit agency in Washington State showed the TAT Transit training video at a monthly staff safety meeting, an emotionally distraught young woman came into their transit center. She had bruises on her face and abrasions all over her body. An employee approached the young woman to see if she needed help and learned that she had just been released from the hospital after being beaten, raped and robbed. She didn’t know what city she was in, had no phone and no money. She’d come to the transit center to find transportation to a friend who she believed was safe. The employee helped her contact the friend and got her a bus ticket.

Sunset Empire Transportation District

A TAT-trained employee at Sunset Empire Transportation District (SETD) in Oregon received calls from both a concerned father and the Seaside Police Department, who were looking for two 14-year-old girls. The father believed they had run away to meet an “Internet friend.”

Working with law enforcement, the SETD team reviewed the video surveillance and found the two girls were on a bus en route to Portland. The supervisor immediately called the TAT-trained bus driver on the route, who was able to confirm that the two girls were on the bus. The driver, SETD staff and law enforcement were able to coordinate holding the bus at a scheduled layover. The driver, a former school bus driver, engaged the girls in conversation until police arrived and were able to escort them safely home.

William

Truck driver

William had parked in a truck stop for the evening when an underage girl knocked on his truck door and solicited him for sex. After William told the girl he was not interested, he observed her knocking on the doors of several other trucks before getting into one. During this time, William also saw an adult man walking around the lot and noticed that he appeared to be watching the girl closely. Since William had received training from TAT, he recognized the signs of a potential trafficking situation and knew to call 911 first before making a call to the National Human Trafficking Hotline to report the situation. After collecting information from William about the situation he observed, the Hotline Advocate also made a report to the Hotline’s trusted law enforcement contacts in the area, who were able to coordinate with the local police in their investigation.

Keith Avila

Uber driver

Uber driver Keith Avila ended one of his shifts in Sacramento, California by helping save a 16-year-old girl from child sex trafficking. Avila said he picked up two women and the teen and drove them to a Holiday Inn in nearby Elk Grove. While in the car, the women openly talked about delivering the girl to a “John” and getting money from him. Once Avila dropped them off at the hotel, he called the police. “The worst thing I thought would happen when driving Uber is that I would be getting drunk passengers and would have to handle them,” Avila, who is 34 and a quinceañera photographer, told NBC Latino. “All my life, I thought about people throwing up in the car as the worst scenario.”

Elk Grove public information officer Chris Trim told NBC Latino that police immediately detained Destiny Pettway, 25, and Maria Westley, 31, when they arrived at the scene. Police found the teen trafficking victim with Disney Vang, 20, in a hotel room. Pettaway and Westley were arrested and charged with pimping and pandering, and their bail was set at $500,000. Vang was arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a minor and has since been released. The victim was discovered to be a runaway, and she was sent to stay in an “alternative housing situation” until her parents or guardians could be located, police said.

Jeanay Angel

Colorado Port of Entry officer

When an 18-wheeler rolled over the scale at a northern Colorado Port of Entry, TAT-trained Officer Jeanay Angel noticed that the passenger in the truck looked significantly younger than the driver. She became suspicious and asked the girl several times if she was okay, felt safe and wanted help. The girl declined to give a clear answer.

After they left, Officer Angel ran their IDs through a national database and found an outstanding arrest warrant from Oklahoma on the driver for child sexual abuse. She contacted the first port they would be in contact with next in Wyoming, who were able to stop the truck and arrest the driver. Using a victim-centered approach, the Wyoming State Patrol paid for a hotel room for the girl for the night and connected her with TAT to learn more about warning signs of grooming and trafficking.

Zachary Heard

Illinois State Police trooper

TAT-trained Illinois State Police Trooper Zachary Heard pulled over a pickup truck on a traffic violation. The vehicle included a male driver and a female passenger. Trooper Heard noticed the passenger trying to make herself small, as if she were distancing herself from the driver. He also noticed drug paraphernalia and discovered a large quantity of narcotics. Narcotics detectives arrested the driver.

Meanwhile, Trooper Heard spoke with the female, who had a large tattoo in Spanish covering her forearm. While Trooper Heard spoke Spanish, he discovered the victim did not. Her explanation of the tattoo was so convoluted that Trooper Heard suspected human trafficking. He offered to connect her with resources, but she refused. Respecting her choice, he helped her get to a safe place and they exchanged numbers. A few days later, Trooper Heard called her and introduced her to a TAT survivor-leader who spoke with her about service providers in her area.

Truck Stop Cashier

In August 2020, at a Montana TravelCenters of America location, a TAT-trained cashier facilitated the recovery of a suspected female victim of trafficking when the young woman approached the counter asking for help and indicated that she was under the control of a man on the premises. The cashier put his TAT training into action and swiftly reported his suspicions to management who contacted the sheriff’s office. Upon learning the young woman’s identity, law enforcement found she’d been reported as a missing person. After the young woman was reunited with her father in the Seattle, WA area, he called the truck stop to thank them for “saving his daughter’s life.”

Trucker

A truck driver contacted the hotline after being approached by a minor potential victim to engage in commercial sex. The driver gave the minor food and some money, asking if she needed help. She indicated she did not. The driver then observed the minor approach the potential trafficker, who pointed the girl in the direction of other trucks parked in the lot. The truck driver noted that the minor appeared to be afraid of the potential trafficker. The truck driver was still at the location; the hotline asked the driver to call 911 to see if they could send an officer to the location while the minor was still there. The driver confirmed with the hotline that law enforcement was going to send an officer. The hotline then followed up with reports to law enforcement contacts and CPS.

Transit Security

Not long after the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System rolled out its anti-trafficking program, which included the TAT Transit video, their security personnel made note of a man at one of their transit centers acting aggressively toward a young woman. When the same man later returned to the transit center and was seen approaching other young women, transit officers shared their observations with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, which coordinated with other law enforcement in California. The investigation culminated in the arrest of the man at a motel near Los Angeles,where he and an accomplice were holding a young woman against her will.

Transit Security - Canada

After receiving training on human trafficking, a Metrolinx revenue protection officer in Ontario met a young woman exhibiting some common red flags associated with human trafficking. She was traveling alone on a train with no fare payment, and with no money or ID. She said she was traveling to Niagara Falls to meet a man she met on the internet but had no plans once she arrived there. The revenue protection officer encouraged her to pause her trip. She agreed to get off the train, and the officer took her to meet a Metrolinx special constable. The special constable helped the young woman contact her mother and arranged for a taxi to bring her to a safe location.

Transit Customer Service

One week after a transit agency in Washington State showed the TAT Transit training video at a monthly staff safety meeting, an emotionally distraught young woman came into their transit center. She had bruises on her face and abrasions all over her body. An employee approached the young woman to see if she needed help and learned that she had just been released from the hospital after being beaten, raped and robbed. She didn’t know what city she was in, had no phone and no money. She’d come to the transit center to find transportation to a friend who she believed was safe. The employee helped her contact the friend and got her a bus ticket.