LIMA — Though Lima’s neighbor to the north is more famous for the problem, human trafficking is a problem in Allen County as well.
Sgt. David Gillispie, who works with the Lima Police Department and on the violent crimes against children task force with the FBI, is working on about 1,000 human trafficking cases right now, he told the Rotary Club of Lima on Monday.
“Lima is considered to be an origin city,” Gillispie said, adding that Lima is where girls come from when they’re trafficked. Girls or women are drawn from Allen County and taken to “destination cities,” or bigger cities such as Fort Wayne, Indiana, Columbus, Detroit and more.
Some 1,900 children have been recovered, the youngest local one was 9 years old, Gillispie said.
He emphasized that the prostitutes involved in human trafficking are seen as victims, not criminals, so, after they’re found and questioned, they’re released.
“We’re looking for the person who put them in that situation in the first place,” he said. “She’s not a prostitute, she’s a victim. These girls don’t want to do this.”
After seven years working with human trafficking, Gillispie’s never talked to a victim who wanted to be involved in the trade.
Kirsten Stopher, a sexual assault and human trafficking victim advocate with Crime Victim Services, also spoke during the Rotary meeting.
She told the story of a former victim who turned her life around and illustrated how there are all different situations. Crime Victim Services has had more than 70 cases of human trafficking over the past year and a half, she said.
“We’re doing a lot of repairing of their bodies and their minds,” she said, of victims the organization helps.
Because “traffickers are masterminds,” she said. “They’re very good at what they do because they’re making all this money off women.”
Gillispie hoped to impart to the some 90 Rotarians in attendance that human trafficking does happen in Lima.
He’s hopeful that education will allow people to “know what to look for and maybe help these girls.”
Gillispie speaks two or three times a month to different groups and said he thinks the outreach and education has made a difference.
“There’s a lot more recognition of the problem,” he said. “We get more tips from people.”
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