UPDATED: 9:22 PM
Human trafficking documented in Kentucky

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A new study claims there have been as many as 69 cases of human trafficking in Kentucky, including the exploitation of sex workers, mail-order brides, domestic help and restaurant and agricultural laborers.

The University of Kentucky study is far from a comprehensive survey of the problem, researchers say, but it is the first of its kind to give an idea of the extent of "modern-day slavery" here.

The study applauds recent Kentucky legislation making human trafficking a felony, but calls for greater coordination of efforts to crack down on it. That includes educating police and workers at shelters and other crisis centers about the signs of human trafficking.

"We have heard anecdotally for a while that there have been trafficking cases in the state, ... but it's really interesting to have hard numbers about that," said Liz Epperson, co-chair of the Lexington Human Trafficking Task Force, one of two such groups in the state.

The study is "going to be really helpful in building some momentum for awareness and ... (responding) to the issue in a comprehensive way."

The report says trafficking cases involve immigrants, legal and illegal, as well as U.S. citizens. It says women and girls are especially vulnerable.

The report, by UK professor T.K. Logan, was based on surveys of officials at rape crisis centers and shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence, as well as of law-enforcement officials, victims' advocates, legal advisers and others involved in such cases.

Logan said the results yielded as many as 69 cases of human trafficking, defined as "labor or services obtained through force, fraud or coercion."

Logan said she was told of Asian and Mexican immigrant women forced into sex work at massage parlors and other settings; of domestic workers forced to work long hours with little outside contact; and of workers at farms and restaurants earning no money — or a small amount — to pay off huge debts to those who brought them to the United States.

Rhonda Henry, executive director of the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center in Lexington, said the report rings true.

She said several women have been put in contact with her agency because of "some type of sexual violence" and that evidence then pointed to cases of trafficking.

Logan, who focuses on domestic-violence research in UK's Department of Behavioral Science, said she didn't expect to find this many cases.

"This has been going on for probably longer than we have been talking about it," she said.

"It's modern-day slavery," added Epperson, who works as a counselor at the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center.

"Whenever you have a population that's vulnerable as a result of different economic factors or sometimes language barriers," she said, they can be "very vulnerable to exploitation."

She said immigrants, who often are victims, are themselves "becoming more and more aware of this crime."

Logan said that while she made every effort to screen out cases where more than one person reported the same crime, it's possible that some of the cases are duplicates. And because of the limited number of people surveyed, she said there's no way to say how widespread the problem is statewide.

The cases reported in the survey broke down as follows:

23percent prostitution, including immigrant massage-parlor workers forced into sex work.

23percent "personal service," including such things as mail-order brides and sexual servitude with one person. One person in the survey reported a woman was chained in a hotel room and used as a sexual slave.

15percent general labor, including agricultural and other workers forced to work long hours for little or no pay.

9percent restaurant labor, including an indentured servant working to pay off a debt on low pay and a woman forced to work 12 hours a day at a rural restaurant for no pay.

7percent domestic labor, including a young girl raped, beaten and forced to do chores, and several women who came as mail-order brides but were forced into domestic labor.

23percent unclassified, but many of which involved sexual assault.

The report recommends increased resources and support for agencies likely to deal with trafficking victims, such as providing better access to language translation for immigrants and developing procedures for dealing with such cases.

It also calls for more education of the public about the issue, increasing research and working for more comprehensive legislation against trafficking.

Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 23056/1008