{"id":10665,"date":"2018-02-09T05:53:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T10:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=10665"},"modified":"2018-02-09T08:29:08","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T13:29:08","slug":"woman-sold-sex-slave-tampa-streets-age-10-helps-others-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2018\/02\/09\/woman-sold-sex-slave-tampa-streets-age-10-helps-others-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman sold as sex slave on Tampa streets at age 10 helps others survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Jennifer Leigh<\/a><\/p>\n

TAMPA (WFLA) \u2013 Human trafficking is not an easy thg to describe. People often think of the sex trade \u2014 massage parlors, strip clubs, prostitution \u2014 all very grown-up activities with seemingly faceless, nameless victims. Many people picture women forced into a life of sex in some faraway place.<\/p>\n

The reality is something very different. Just ask human trafficking survivor Edie Rhea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not overseas. It\u2019s here in the United States, in Florida, in Tampa,\u201d Rhea said.<\/p>\n

Edie Rhea says she was victimized by her mother\u2019s boyfriend beginning when she was just 8 years old.\u00a0 \u201cAt 8, he started sexually abusing me, and then by 10 he started selling me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On a recent morning she re-visited Tampa\u2019s Rowlett Park where she says she was first sold into a life of sex.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would go to school, come home, throw my books down and then\u2026\u00a0 cars would pull up, trucks, vans, and they would park,\u201d she explained. \u201cI would meet, you know, the men and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That terrifying existence went on from the time she was 10 until she was 17 years old.<\/p>\n

Sometimes adults would take her to a nearby motel that\u2019s still on Nebraska Avenue, and every time, she fearfully did what her mother\u2019s boyfriend told her she had to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would threaten me, threaten to kill me, threaten to kill my mom,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Special Agent James Spero is in charge of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa office. He says a common misconception is that human trafficking happens somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be going on right in your neighborhood or right down the road from where you work,\u201d Spero said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so widespread in fact, it\u2019s estimated there are 25 million human trafficking victims worldwide, and Florida has the third highest number of reported cases in the country.<\/p>\n

Capt. Andy Miller is in charge of the Salvation Army\u2019s Tampa Command. Late last year, he launched the first-ever Bay Area emergency shelter for victims of human trafficking. He says the need was so great the agency created a kind of triage center to get victims to immediate safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be a place where when there\u2019s a need we can pull them in, give them a safe place, give them food, give them the initial counseling they need. Then we can get them to long-term places,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Edie Rhea never had that lifeline. She broke the cycle on her own. Now she hopes to be that lifeline to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to stop this epidemic right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 2017 saw 878 calls regarding human trafficking in Florida.<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Homeland Security Investigations,\u00a0here are common indicators to help recognize human trafficking:<\/p>\n