Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking Workshop

This forum will educate parents, teenagers and other community members about the dangers of Human Trafficking and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) including: 

• The connection between local street gangs and child sex trafficking 
• Coercion and grooming techniques gang members use to recruit their victims 
• Where victims are recruited (Local shopping malls, schools, Internet) 
• Warning signs for parents and educators (increased truancy, gifts without means of income, tattoos/branding, multiple cell phones, etc.) 
• State and federal laws and pending legislation designed to protect children from trafficking 

The forum will include the screening of local documentary, “Indoctrinated: The Grooming of Children into Prostitution.” 

Participants will also learn about a comprehensive, countywide approach currently underway to combat these serious and pervasive crimes. 

Speakers will include:

• Chief David Bejarano of the Chula Vista Police Department 
• Sgt. Jason King with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the San Diego Regional Human Trafficking Task Force
• Nikki Junker, a sex trafficking survivor and founder of With More Than Purpose
• Manolo Guillen, Director of ACTION Network (Against Child Trafficking In Our Neighborhoods) 

San Diego County is considered an international gateway for sex trafficking and the FBI has identified our region as a “High Intensity Child Prostitution Area.” 

According to local and federal authorities, child sex trafficking has become a lucrative criminal enterprise for street gangs in San Diego County. 

As of 2005, the San Diego Regional Human Trafficking Task Force has identified 351 victims of labor and/or sex trafficking in San Diego County. Local and federal authorities have arrested 105 suspects; 42 percent were documented gang members. Up to 31 percent of the victims were juveniles. 

Source: Safe Border Community Project