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You are Invited to the Governor’s Proclamation Signing, Thursday, January 22 Declaring January 2026 “Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month”

The NAHT will host a public proclamation signing by Governor Kim Reynolds, designating January 2026 as “Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.” The proclamation will take place on Thursday, January 22 at 11:30 a.m. in the Rotunda of the State Capitol Building in Des Moines. To download a copy of the “Save the Date” flyer, tap here.

During “Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month,” the NAHT asks all modern-day abolitionists to recommit themselves to eradicating the evil of enslavement. Human trafficking is a modern form of the oldest and most barbaric type of human exploitation. It has no place in our state. During January 2026, let’s not simply reflect on this appalling reality. Instead, we must pledge to do all in our power to end the horrific practice of human trafficking/modern slavery that plagues innocent victims around the world.

Worldwide, an estimated 50 million people are currently victims of human trafficking. That’s a 10 million increase since 2000. Human traffickers prey on their victims by promising a life of hope and greater opportunity while delivering only enslavement. Instead of delivering people to better lives, traffickers profit from the labor and toil of their victims, who they force –– through violence, drugs, and intimidation – to work in the sex trade in hotels/motels and illicit massage businesses, and as slave laborers, in factories, on farms and fishing vessels, in private homes, and in countless other industries.

Five 2026 Outstanding Anti-Trafficking Service Awards will also be presented by the NAHT and Governor Reynolds on January 22, immediately following the proclamation signing. We will announce these five anti-trafficking heroes in the January 2026 blog post/newsletter.

We Need Your Support Today!

This final donor appeal is coming to you one day prior to Tuesday, December 2, which is Giving Tuesday. We are asking for your support. This is our once-a-year solicitation of our blog post supporters.

On this global day of giving, we’re hoping to raise $7,500. That money will be used to help fund printing and public education throughout 2026 and including materials for the celebration of January as Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month. You are invited to join us on Thursday, January 22, at 11:30 am for the Governor’s proclamation signing and the presentation of five Outstanding Anti-Trafficking Service Awards.

Ways you can donate before the end of 2025:

  • Go to our website: iowanaht.org/donate-now
  • Scan the QR code
  • Mail a check to: Iowa NAHT, 5508 West Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014

Ask Your City Council to Adopt a Local Proclamation for January 2025

Another important request to all Iowa anti-trafficking advocates is to approach your city council and/or county board of supervisors about declaring January 2026 as Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in your local community/county. An example fill-in-the-blank proclamation that you could propose to be adopted can be found here.

Once your city and/or county local government votes to adopt the proclamation, they will publicly present it to you at a meeting. You can attend the meeting and interact with your council or county supervisors. What a great way to create public awareness and recognition of this growing problem across Iowa and within your own home community. An example proclamation acceptance script for you to respond to your city council can be found here.

Please let the NAHT know if you have secured a local proclamation. Last year, over 40 Iowa cities and counties signed a local proclamation.

Rotary Sponsored Human Trafficking Forum Raises $130,500 Over Three Years

Iowa Rotary District 6000 is made up of 67 local clubs. Seventeen of these clubs have formed a Prevent Trafficking Action Team. Each Rotary Club has committed to launching a prevention/education program in its local community.

The Des Moines Rotary Multi-Club (called CIVITAS) is their major local educational program.  The Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking collaborated with the Rotary Action Team to provide educational materials at the October 15 forum. (See the photo of the NAHT information table.)

Nearby, 200 Rotarians and their community guests paid $25 each to attend the October 15 fundraising forum focused on ending human trafficking across Iowa. Each of the CIVITAS clubs matched the funds raised at the Rotary-sponsored forum, which added up to $45,000 raised. All net proceeds will be donated to local Central Iowa nonprofits fighting human trafficking. Over the last three years of human trafficking forums, these CIVITAS events have raised a total of $130,500.

Thirteen Rotary clubs make up the Greater Des Moines Rotary Multi-Club Committee, which organized the forum. The event was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines. Participants learned from the keynote speaker, Dan Nash, the Director of the Human Trafficking Training Center based in Missouri. Learn more about the training center here.

Mr. Nash also provided human trafficking skill training at a separate Rotary-funded day-and-a-half training for 85 Iowa law enforcement officers on October 14 and 15. Nash was the head Investigator of human trafficking in Missouri before he founded the Training Center. He reported that nationally, 17% of law enforcement have had human trafficking awareness training, and nationally, only 8% of officers have had human trafficking skill training. The FBI and U.S Marshal officers have had no (0%) human trafficking skill training.

Rotary clubs in Iowa and Georgia are the first districts to fund human trafficking law-enforcement skills training. Rotary Districts in Texas, Florida, and California will start funding human trafficking training in 2026.

During the three-hour community forum, Mr.Nash also shared that:

  • 30% to 35% of U.S child trafficking is familial trafficking (parents and relatives).
  • None of the cops who investigate trafficking allows their kids on social media (cell phones can be very dangerous for grooming by predators).
  • 30% of teens have met people in person whom they first met on the internet.
  • Forced criminality is a type of human trafficking.
  • 10% to 15% of adult males are creating the demand for sex trafficking.
  • States need to increase penalties for buyers of sex. It has been made a felony in only 5 states. Oregon and Washington have made it a $2,500 fine. In Iowa, it is still only a misdemeanor.

Statewide Trafficking Statistics

Annually, the NAHT collects data from state agencies and hotlines that are fighting human trafficking. In most states, government funds are utilized to pay for statewide human trafficking data collection across agencies. Since Iowa does not, this information gathering falls to the NAHT volunteer Board of Directors. To compare 2024 to past years, you can find the 2023 statistical chart on the NAHT website.

1. The DPS Office to Combat Human Trafficking also reported that in 2024:

  • Number of certified lodging staff who successfully completed the Human Trafficking Prevention Training Certification – 16,220
  • Iowa Certified Lodging Facilities – 617
  • Number of law enforcement and the public/private sector individuals trained in identifying human trafficking – 2,235 (calendar year 2024)
  • The Iowa State Patrol hosted nine public training sessions to help identify human trafficking victims.

2. All 2024 prosecutions led to six convictions. Between 2005 and 2023, there were 81 Iowa HT trafficker convictions. The six convictions in 2024 now bring the total to 87. In 2023, there was also a $5.3 million settlement paid by Western Iowa Tech Community College in two lawsuits alleging the school engaged in labor trafficking brought by 10 Brazilian and 13 students from Chile.

Cedar Rapids Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Crimes

A man who sexually exploited a child pleaded guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids.  Kevin Patrick Sullivan, age 43, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

At the plea hearing, Sullivan admitted that between June 2013 and February 2015, he produced visual depictions of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Between June 2013 and January 2025, on multiple electronic devices, he possessed child pornography that showed a prepubescent child. Between November 2013 and January 2025, he used the internet to receive child pornography.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Sullivan remains in the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Sullivan faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 70 years imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, $117,300 in special assessments, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Iowa Woman Arrested in Human Sex Trafficking Investigation

On October 29, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Perry Police Department have charged Amanda Jean Goff, 41, with one count of Human Trafficking in the First Degree. Goff was taken into custody without incident at the Sac County Jail, where she had been held on related offenses. Human Trafficking in the First Degree is a class A felony.

As detailed in the criminal complaint, it is alleged that in January 2025, Goff took a 14-year-old female to a Perry hotel for the express purpose of having the victim engage in commercial sexual activity with another person.

The investigation was a collaborative effort between city, county, state, and federal law enforcement partners. Technical support was provided by the Iowa Office to Combat Human Trafficking (OTCHT). Since 2023, the OTCHT has provided training and resources to educate our communities and businesses on the signs of human trafficking and to law enforcement and prosecutors on the effective investigation and prosecution of human trafficking offenses. This is an ongoing investigation. No additional information will be released at this time.

Former Olin Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Federal Prison

An Iowa man who sexually exploited children was sentenced on September 23,  to 40 years in federal prison. Christopher West, 38, formerly from Olin, Iowa, received the sentence after an April 14, guilty plea to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography. At the plea hearing, West admitted that he sexually exploited four children and distributed child pornography. The record at the sentencing hearing showed that West sexually exploited four girls ages 6, 11, 15, and 17.

West was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams to 480 months imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term, and he must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.

Prairieburg Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison

An Iowa man who used Snapchat, Instagram, and text messages to persuade children to engage in sexually explicit conduct and send him photographs and videos of this conduct was sentenced on October 1 to 40 years in federal prison. Bryce Hans Plower, 37, from Prairieburg, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 17 guilty plea to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.

Information in a plea agreement and at sentencing showed that between 2014 and 2024, Plower convinced multiple children to send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. Some minors were as young as 12 years old. He paid several children, often as little as $1.  Minors then sent him sexually explicit images that they felt they owed him. Plower also possessed child pornography on his phone, including of a child engaged in sexual acts with an animal, prepubescent children, and sadistic or masochistic conduct.

Plower was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams to 480 months imprisonment and was ordered to make $6,000 in restitution to victims. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Huge Spike in Online Crimes Against Children a “Wake-Up Call”

Already this year, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has seen sharp increases in new and evolving crimes targeting children on the internet, including online enticement, use of artificial intelligence, and child sex trafficking.

For the first time, the Center has released statistics for just half of 2025 through June, compared to the same time last year. These crime trends are gleaned from millions of reports sent to our CyberTipline, which serves as the national reporting mechanism for online child sexual exploitation.

In that six-month time frame, online enticement reports to the CyberTipline jumped from 292,951 last year to 518,720 so far this year. Reports of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) related to child sexual exploitation soared from 6,835 reports to 440,419.

“These alarming increases are a wake-up call,” said John Shehan, Senior Vice President who oversees the Exploited Children Division. “These statistics are not just numbers – they represent children experiencing unthinkable harm. We need parents, caregivers, educators and communities to stay alert and talk openly with children about online risks.”

The CyberTipline gives NCMEC a unique perspective on the ways offenders are targeting children on what has become a global online playground. As threats against children continue to evolve, NCMEC is constantly adapting by finding new ways to address the toughest challenges kids face.

Sadistic online exploitation is one of the most disturbing types of online enticement we’ve seen. Violent groups are targeting kids on publicly available messaging platforms, including Discord, Roblox and gaming sites. Initially, offenders befriend them and initiate an online relationship, then force their young targets to record or live-stream acts of harm against themselves and others.

One mother told NCMEC a violent group member made her daughter cut its screen name into her arm with a razor blade, then told her she was a good girl and that they love her. Her mother couldn’t believe her daughter’s response: “I love you, too!”

“These guys are very scary,” the mother told NCMEC. “Just the power they have over my daughter is mind blowing. Please help!”

Reports of financial sextortion, still a relatively new type of online crime, are also continuing to spike – from 13,842 in the first six months last year compared to 23,593 this year.

Unlike offenders with sexual motivations to prey on children, these offenders are driven purely for financial gain. Offenders often use fake social media accounts to convince their targets, mostly teenage boys, to send them sexually explicit images, then immediately begin demanding money. They threaten to post their images on the internet if they don’t comply. We’re aware of more than three dozen teens who’ve taken their lives as a result of being victimized by this crime.

Now with the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to create content, enticement is not always necessary for this type of crime. Rather than coercing sexual content, offenders are increasingly using GAI tools to create explicit images using the child’s face from public social media or school or community postings, then blackmail them.

“NCMEC began tracking GAI in 2023, and the growth has been staggering,” Shehan said. “It’s important that we stay on top of these emerging threats to warn the public and adjust our strategies for protecting children.”

This technology can be used to create or alter images, provide guidelines for how to groom or abuse children, or even simulate the experience of an explicit chat with a child.

It’s also being used to create nude images, not just sexually explicit ones, that are sometimes referred to as “deepfakes.” Often done as a prank in high schools, these images have a devastating impact on the lives and futures of mostly female students when they are shared online.

December 15 Labor Trafficking Webinar

The Franciscan Peace Center in Clinton, Iowa is hosting a webinar on labor trafficking on December 15 between 5:00 and 6:00p.m. The webinar flyer is attached here.

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By on December 1, 2025   /   News