Sacramento advocates warn parents of increased child trafficking risks as school returns
A warning is being issued to parents as their children return to school: there's an increased risk of kids getting involved with prostitution, and some are recruited right on campus by their peers.
On Thursday night, community members came together to try and raise awareness of the dangers that teens face when it comes to sexual predators online and in person.
Leia Schenk is the founder of the community organization Empact, a group that helps youth who have been recruited for sex work.
"There are children out in the middle of the night on these streets all the time every single day," Schenk said.
That's why she's reaching out to parents, teachers, and other community members, offering ways to protect kids from human trafficking.
She says back-to-school season is a vulnerable time when kids are trying to make friends and joining new social groups.
"We are finding that 1 in 4 children have been solicited for trafficking," Schenk said.
Law enforcement says the Sacramento region is a hotspot for this type of illegal activity.
Detectives routinely conduct undercover stings targeting people involved with sex trafficking. Just last week, a regional task force arrested 13 people and rescued a juvenile victim.
Raymond Lozada is the safe schools director for Sacramento City Unified. He says kids often get recruited into sex work through social media.
"Students like the likes and the shares and having that friend group," he said.
Empact says last year it helped rescue 26 kids in the Sacramento area but many more are still missing. They're hoping that through community education and outreach, no more youth will become victims.
"We want to prevent before law enforcement ever has to go out there and do a sting operation. How do we prevent it so that a child is not out there having to be rescued?" Schenk said.
Empact says there's also a growing use of artificial intelligence to extort and coerce juveniles into human trafficking.
