There have been 19,935 and 16,604 human trafficking victims of moderate and high ratings respectively in the United States from 2007 to 2014.
Additional information reveals 5,042 cases of human trafficking reported just in 2014. Pennsylvania also ranks 14th out of the 24 highest states to report cases for the crime with 113 and Maryland came in 10th with 135.
And former Temple football runningback Matt Brown, 25, was arrested and charged with human trafficking on March 19 after he was found in a Baltimore hotel room with his accomplice Anthony Leon Eley Jr, who were planning to pay for sex with three females aged 14, 16 and 17.
So when the Life After Trauma Organization held its conference on human trafficking Friday in the Student Center, more than the location connected the issue to Temple.
Daily News writer Morgan Zalot was one of six panelists at the conference, along with Deputy Chief of the Amtrak police Lisa Shahade, Judge Lori Dumas of the Court of Common Pleas, U.S assistant attorney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Michelle Morgan, Dr. Delane Casiano of Princeton Behavioral Health, and LATO member Ivan Cole.
Shahade revealed human trafficking’s effect on the United States through statistics from the National Human Trafficking Resource center and its Polaris Project.
News of the alumnus’ arrest event struck a chord with some of the conference going student body.
“I would say it’s inappropriate and outraging,” Lexi Liu, a freshman psychology major said. “Honestly, why would you have to go after teenage girls?”
Liu, who is from China, is aware of the scale of the issue and said she wants to work against it.
“This is a global issue,” Liu said. “This is definitely a good opportunity to do something about it.”
Exton, Pa. native Judith Haupt, who has a doctorate in psychology and was attending the conference in support of LATO chair Dr. Clara Whaley Perkins. Haupt was unaware of the news until recently, but was quick to apply it back to the LATO conference in understanding his mindset.
“It’s shocking, but as one of the speakers had mentioned this morning, it’s a very lucrative body of work, so obviously he values money over anyone, including these teenage girls,” Haupt said. “According to what we learned this morning, he must be a master of manipulation.”
Zalot, who spent three months working on a Daily News report on sex trafficking, said federal sentences can be from 10 years to life imprisonment.
Stephen Godwin Jr. can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu or on Twitter @StephenGodwinJr.
