The Untold Truths of Sex Trafficking in Idaho

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2 News) — Boise repeatedly makes headlines for being one of the safest places to live, but that doesn't mean we are exempt from some of the world's most heinous atrocities. One of those atrocities is sex trafficking, and it's all too common here in Idaho.

"We have sex trafficking all along the I-84 corridor. We have fake storefront businesses like illicit massage parlors, there might be tire shops or tattoo shops that have a fake storefront where they're running a sex trafficking ring in the back and behind the scenes," said Kevin Zielinski, Program Manager of the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition.

Boise does not have a "blade," a red light district, or an obvious place to go buy commercial sex acts, but that doesn't make trafficking any less prevalent. Zielinski says the victims and the perpetrators are all hidden in plain sight.

"We do have crime syndicates here in Idaho. We have the cartel, we have the Russian mafia, we have gangs and street gangs, we have biker gangs. We're not excluded when it comes to this particular crime. It's a heinous crime. It's the worst possible thing you can think of that a person can endure."

Zielinski says just last year, the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition served 166 victims in Boise. Unfortunately, he says numbers are on the rise.

"It's about a 150 billion dollar industry globally. It's surpassing drug trafficking because with drugs, you know, you sell cocaine and then you have to replace it and sell it again. With humans, you don't have to replace somebody, you can just keep selling them and so on," saidZielinski.

One survivor of sex trafficking shared her experience with CBS2. For her protection, her voice has been altered, her face has been hidden, and she is being referred to as "Jane Doe."

"I think that it's a very understated problem that needs definitely some legislation put into place around it because currently, prostitution is the only chargeable offense," said Jane Doe. "So basically, girls who are being trafficked are the only ones that can be charged for the crime."

Jane Doe says she was trafficked in Boise for eight years and that this problem goes deeper than most of us may realize.

"Boise, when you're not living in the 'underbelly' as I call it, is an amazing place to live. I love Idaho, but on the underbelly side of things, which is very real and predominant here, you have law enforcement getting paid off, which I hate to say that because I've had the opportunity being on this side of the fence to meet a ton of law enforcement that are amazing and work hard and diligently to protect and serve, but unfortunately, there are some bad people everywhere you go," said Jane Doe.

Jane Doe says she has witnessed people holding positions that are supposed to help victims of trafficking turn a blind eye to it.

"It's so deep. You've got judges, attorneys, social workers, the foster care system, and it's like, there's just, unfortunately, a whole network of people everywhere," said Jane Doe.

Zielinski says sex trafficking isn't the only problem we have here in Idaho, citing more than 100 illicit massage parlors across the state.

"We also have individuals that are sex trafficking and labor trafficking victims. A good example of that is individuals who might be caught up in illicit massage parlors. We have over 100 illicit massage parlors here in the state of Idaho, where a lot of that is a storefront usually run by the Asian mafia," said Zielinski. "They'll have five or six girls of Asian descent that are over here on false contracts, thinking they're coming over here to provide work and then they are subjected to sex and labor trafficking within the massage parlors."

For those trapped in this cycle, it can be extremely difficult to escape. A large part of keeping victims trapped is through the use of gaslighting, manipulation and fear tactics.

"They're so good at manipulating your choices that you feel like you're in control a lot of the time, so during the first couple of years that I was being trafficked through the strip clubs out here, I knew that what had happened to me was not okay in how I ended up in the clubs, but I still thought I was in control of my life," said Jane Doe. "I just was sitting there feeling so pathetic, you know? Why can't I get out of this lifestyle? Why can't I find another job? Stuff like that, I didn't realize that it's because I was being manipulated. The places that I was going and applying were affiliated with these rings, so that's why I wasn't getting a job."

Once the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition helped Jane Doe escape, she dealt was harassment known as "gang stalking."

"I had people constantly coming into my work when I was cashier and all kinds of wild stuff would be said to me that was not normal. The gang stalking can be really intense," said Jane Doe. "It's very scary, people breaking into my house and taking things and then it would show back up three or four months later, and things would go missing from my car and show up a couple of weeks later empty."

Jane Doe said the gang stalking had her questioning her sanity. She said it wasn't until her boss and co-workers expressed their safety concerns that she realized the severity of the stalking and that she wasn't being paranoid. The Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition is a place victims can go to be believed and seek proper help with things like housing, employment, court hearings and more.

"Having organizations that are trained to work with survivors is essential for them to say like no, we believe you, we know this stuff happens, because you'll gaslight yourself, you know, you'll sit there, like, 'I'm losing my mind, there's something wrong with me, there's no way this stuff can be happening,'" said Jane Doe. "To have not just survivors, but allies confirming and reassuring you helps with the acceptance process."

Zielinski's passion to help victims like Jane Doe stems from personal tragedy that struck when he sent his own daughter to a residential care facility in Eagle, hoping to get her the care she needed. The husband and wife that ran that business are now in jail.

"Essentially what they were doing is they were sexually abusing the girls but they were also posting that on the dark web, so child pornography," saidZielinski.

Zielinski and his wife have since dedicated their lives to helping victims of trafficking and say a large part of that is debunking common misconceptions. The most common question he says he gets is, "Why don't they just leave?"

"Individuals feel like victims and survivors can just leave their situation, they don't understand the complex trauma they're under. They don't understand all the physical and emotional and sexual abuse they've endured, not only from their trafficker, but from all the buyers as well, and those threats and trafficker impose on them are very real. They may have witnessed their trafficker meeting and killing someone in front of them, or that threat doesn't even have to be directed solely to them. They could say, 'Hey, if you don't come home tonight with your $1,000 quota, I know where your little sister lives and I'm gonna bring her in.' So there's various aspects to whereas that person feels very hopeless and helpless," saidZielinski.

While "snatch and grabs" can occur, Zielinski says 89% of victims know their traffickers. Oftentimes, he says parents "pimp" out their children to pay their rent or support their drug problems.

"A lot of that too is that trauma bond to whereas, 'Hey, that's my husband, he loves me, or that's my boyfriend, or that's my mom,' so breaking that trauma bond can be very difficult for individuals to even recognize they're in a situation like this. A lot of victims don't self-identify, nor do they realize that they are victims of human trafficking. Some of them may not understand what that terminology means," saidZielinski.

Zielinski says it is important to stop labeling victims as prostitutes and drug addicts because it criminalizes people in a hopeless situation.

"They are victims and that's the main thing that we're trying to change systemically within professions is to start viewing them as victims," said Zielinski. "Yes, they are under substance abuse, and I always pose this question, 'If you're getting raped, seven to 10 times a day, night after night, for 365 days a year, and your trafficker hands you drugs, are you going to take them?' I am. I want to disassociate, I want to numb the pain, I don't want to remember any of this that's occurring to me right now," saidZielinski. "We can't fault them, I think the more that we put in perspective, and put ourselves in their shoes and their experiences, I think we'd have a lot more empathy and compassion and not label someone as a prostitute and understand that they're a victim of human trafficking."

Jane Doe says she wants anyone struggling to know there is hope.

"Don't wait because it doesn't get better, it just gets worse the longer that you're in," said Jane Doe. "There's people who want to help you. There's people that will believe you, as crazy as whatever you've been through has been, there are people who want to help you and believe you. It's possible to get back on your feet, it's possible to recover from this and carry a normal life."

If you would like to get in contact with the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition, click here.

If you need immediate assistance, please call their crisis hotline at (208) 630-6601 and press 9. You can learn other ways to help in the flyer below.

To show their appreciation for all that the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition has done for victims in our community, Mountain America Credit Union donated $500.

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