[Retired Criminal Investigator with the Iowa Department of Justice] Ferjak says victims are recruited at the mall, school or in online chat rooms under a false promise of a dancing or modeling career. Others who are lonely or look out of place are also often preyed on. Once lured in, their picture and description are posted on buyer boards like “Backpage,” an advertisement website, then sold in our own backyards.“When we saw the NCAA tournaments here earlier this year, Polk County saw a 45-percent increase in the number of persons being offered for sale during the time frame of that tournament,” says Ferjak.
He says that same spike happens during the 80/35 music festival, the Downtown Farmer’s Market and even the Iowa State Fair.
“It’s not the event itself. They are not trafficking at the State Fair but there are people at the State Fair who for whatever motivation have looked at these pages,” he said. “They have made those calls and have made those arrangements and the traffickers are supplying what they want.”
Experts say the average buyer is a middle-aged white man between the age of 30-49. Nearly 75 percent of them are college educated and two-thirds of them have children of their own.
Read the full article here. It was published November 14, 2016 and written by Jodi Whitworth of WhoTV.com.