Stockton summit shows face of human trafficking

STOCKTON — When Melinda Griffith’s family met their daughter Adrianna’s boyfriend in 2010, he appeared to be a nice, respectful young man.

But over the course of a few months, Melinda Griffith began noticing changes in her daughter’s behavior.

She said her daughter became more quiet and reserved than usual, and started pulling away from family and friends. She also began wearing high heels and carrying bags or purses, something she had never done before.

In the back of her mind, Griffith knew something was wrong, and called Stockton Police Department for help.

Initially, detectives told Griffith to call them when her daughter was actually in physical danger or had been harmed.

However, detectives began investigating the boyfriend in relation to similar incident with another family, and asked Griffith for information.

One day while Griffith was at work, they called to inform her that 21-yearold Adrianna had been arrested. For what, they would not say because her daughter was an adult.

However, Griffith was instructed to go to the San Joaquin County Sheriff ’s Office website, and look at its roster of those in custody to look at the charges.

“When I found out she had been arrested for pimping, pandering and a whole host of other charges, my heart dropped,” Griffith said. “I’m like ‘what?’ No. Not her. She’s wonderful. She’s my daughter. She’s my heart. It had to be wrong.”

Griffith spoke about her family’s ordeal during the San Joaquin County Human Trafficking Task Force’s first summit Wednesday at the San Joaquin County Office of Education.

Ultimately, she learned the charges were actually against her daughter’s boyfriend, and one of her worst fears was confirmed: Adrianna had become a victim of human trafficking.

While the man who claimed to be Adrianna’s boyfriend received a sentence of 28 years in prison, the family’s ordeal didn’t end there.

The case made the local news, and Griffith was vilified on social media as a ‘bad mother’ who turned a blind eye to the people with whom her daughter associated, and someone who had no clue what today’s youth are doing.

“My family was broken,” Griffith said. “One of the worst parts for me — as a mom — is that affected me more than others. I was blamed because I was the mom. Why didn’t I know what my daughter was into, or why didn’t I do anything to stop it. People don’t understand what human trafficking is, and it’s time to stop being silent about it.”

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is the recruitment of persons through coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or similar practices, servitude or the removal of organs.

Griffith’s daughter was used for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the kind of human trafficking that the county’s 70-member task force on the issue wants to eradicate.

Stockton police responded to 104 cases of human trafficking in 2015 and 2016, according to task force chair Joelle Gomez.

Of those cases, 55 were related to prostitution, 30 began as missing persons reports, and 19 were long-term investigations with multiple reports of violations, she said.

In addition, she said 50 percent of the victims involved were minors.

Debbie Johnson is the executive director of Without Permission, a Modesto-based nonprofit organization aimed at fighting human trafficking in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

Since its founding in 2010, Without Permission has helped more than 254 human trafficking survivors, including 97 first-time victims in 2016.

Johnson named the music industry as one of the main culprits in ‘normalizing’ human trafficking, as artists produce songs that refer to women in derogatory terms and encourage them to present themselves in an objectifying manner.

She said the key to ending human trafficking, either regionally or nationally, is awareness in the community, and education at home.

“There’s not enough conversation about what the future will look like if we keep destroying our children in this manner,” she said. “It’s not enough to hand out wrist bands. We’re going to have to do more than put a bumper sticker on our cars. We’re going to hold town hall meetings. We’re going to have to look at what kinds of music and apps our children are downloading. We have to look at what movies are coming out next year. We have to have a discussion about how we could be destroying our children.”

Gomez said the goals for the San Joaquin County task force in 2017 include holding a second summit, and conducting greater outreach efforts in schools, as well as the business and faith communities.

Since its creation in 2014, the task force has secured $85,000 in funding, and has given more than 25 presentations to the community at large.

Ultimately, the task force’s main goal for the coming year is to develop a strategy that will effectively reduce the demand for human trafficking in the county.

“These predators do not care about our children,” Gomez said. “It’s all about money, and that’s the bottom line. It’s a very lucrative way to make a living, and it’s at the expense of our children and families.”

For more information about the task force, email jgomez@chsstk.com, or go to facebook.com/enditsjc.