Mila* had come to the hospital with health problems that a compassionate healthcare worker quickly pieced together to tell a sobering story: she had been sexually abused.
The hospital collaborated with law enforcement, who began to suspect that this was bigger than just an abuse case. That’s when they connected with The Exodus Road’s investigators.
Our teams reviewed the documentation in collaboration with the hospital, assessing the child’s injuries. From there, they pieced together a picture of the full criminal operation she had been caught in.
A perpetrator was posing online as a 12-year-old, luring other children around the same age to a hotel with promises of modeling opportunities. Once the girls got there, the adult would sexually abuse them on camera, later selling the material online to eager international buyers. The operation was lucrative, secretive, and deeply traumatizing for the innocent children who fell into his snare.
Fortunately, our team was able to help build a case quickly from Mila’s story. They helped her mother file a formal complaint with law enforcement. In the process, they stopped another young girl, Tina,* from going to the same hotel to meet the same fate.
Our team was able to assemble multiple kinds of evidence proving that trafficking was taking place inside the dance studio, which was located right off a main highway. (AI Image representative)
Mila and Tina were both taken into police protection and offered mental health support. Anxious and afraid, they struggled to trust adults at first, the memories of abuse still raw. But supported by their mothers, the girls will now be receiving ongoing care as they heal — physically and psychologically.
This case is an example of the way that predators increasingly use technology to traffic kids, planting seeds that grow into sexual exploitation while the girls or boys are seemingly safely at home with their parents. Fortunately, our global investigators are experts at using technology too — and they’re committed to finding and freeing more kids like Mila and Tina and restoring their childhood.
Find out more about how The Exodus Road is combating online exploitation in all forms, often stopping trafficking before it starts.
*Names are pseudonyms for security purposes
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