SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — The Shelby County Drug Drug Enforcement Task Force has blown up a human trafficking ring operating on the Highway 280 corridor.
Late last week, authorities arrested 25-year-old Alexander Jackson of Arkansas, who has been charged with Human Trafficking in the 2nd Degree. According to officials, the operation began because of tips received from concerned local businesses. Lt. Clay Hammac noted that business owners were concerned about prostitution activity in the Inverness area.
Court documents revealed that Jackson was arrested by an officer after transporting a woman for the “purpose of prostitution” on June 16.
“We’re very fortunate in the State of Alabama,” Lt. Clay Hammac told WIAT. “Our lawmakers are very aggressive when it comes to not the crime so much of prostitution, but those that are facilitating the crime of prostitution, those that sometimes are forcing young ladies into this life for a profit.”
The women who had been forced into prostitution have been identified and referred to community outreach centers to start recovery.
“These investigations can be heartbreaking at times,” Hammac told the Shelby County Reporter. “Our goal is not to put these young ladies in jail, but to help them escape the situation that each of them currently finds themselves in.”
The alleged trafficker is currently being held in Shelby County Jail on $100,000 bond.
Alabama is home to a “Sex Trafficking Superhighway” that most people do not even realize exists.
I-20 is a 1,513 mile stretch of highway that runs halfway across America, from West Texas to South Carolina.
The stretch of I-20 between Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, which is used by over 10 million people each year is “America’s number one road for human sex trafficking.”
And business along I-20 is booming. Sex trafficking is the world’s fastest growing illegal activity. It is a $13 billion per year business in the United States alone, and 75% of the victims are being trafficked as sex slaves.
Shockingly, in 2013, four times the amount of people were sold as slaves in America than the year before the Civil War.
“It isn’t what you think it is,” says Jen, who was sucked in after answering an ad for what she thought was a legitimate modeling agency. “(It’s not) some troubled girl running from an abused family life. It’s clean and it’s nice. These pimps are altering their techniques to snare vulnerable girls any way they can. It could be anybody — some new friend you made on Facebook; some awesome guy you met at the beach or the mall. It could even be your best friend.”
FULL STORY: The ‘Sex Trafficking Superhighway’ most Alabamians don’t even realize runs through their state
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