Leandra* was 16 and Evita* was only 14 when they were recruited and moved away from their home city.
Their traffickers had worked out a system that gave them multiple streams of income— which meant multiple ways the girls were exploited. In addition to selling Leandra and Evita to tourists for sex, the traffickers required them to drug the men and steal their belongings.
Most of the time, embarrassment kept targets from prosecuting the theft. But one tourist went to the police, complaining of a shadowy girl who robbed him while he slept.
Focused on his own problems, the man didn’t realize that the girl— Leandra— was in desperate danger. Fortunately, when police traced her and spoke to her, she was determined to tell them the truth. She explained to them about the terrible system she was trapped in. She admitted she was only 16. She told them about her friend Evita, who was in the same situation.
Police released Leandra back to her hometown but knew her trafficker was still out there. They developed a plan to fully free and protect Leandra from her trafficker’s reach, while finding Evita and arresting the perpetrators. But the situation was tremendously complex, with powerful crime bosses and multiple police jurisdictions involved. So law enforcement called on The Exodus Road to help build evidence.
Meanwhile, the traffickers were still forcing Leandra to work, even from home. She was required to livestream sex acts via webcam, proof of how easy it is in the digital age for exploitation to happen without a trafficker ever needing to be in the same room as the person they’re exploiting. She’d been abused in every way until fear kept her trapped in the traffickers’ control.
The traffickers forced Leandra to livestream sex acts via webcam, proof of how easy it is in the digital age for exploitation to happen without a trafficker ever needing to be in the same room as the person they’re exploiting.
Two years after they’d first been recruited, Leandra and Evita were finally able to seize their freedom. Law enforcement came for Leandra first, helping sever the digital threads of the traffickers’ control. Later the same day, they found Evita.
Both girls begged the government social workers present with police: please protect us. We are so afraid.
Authorities made sure that would happen. Both girls are now safe, hidden from anyone else who would exploit them.
Several adults who had been trafficking the girls were arrested. Law enforcement continues to pursue leads on more potential criminals.
Your support allows us to persevere in unraveling the systems that hold Leandra and Evita in situations of abuse. Thank you for helping us bring them freedom!
