Group fighting sex trafficking

End Slavery Georgia hopes to build a facility in Rome to aid in recovery for sex trade victims.

They are charming, they are persuasive, they are aggressive and they are committing horrible crimes — using, brainwashing and abusing girls and women for monetary gain.

Sex traffickers are a bigger problem in Georgia than anyone would expect. In Atlanta, a sex trafficker can make an average of $30,000 a day, according to Doug Crumbly, one of the organizers of End Slavery Georgia.

“It is a horrible crime,” he said. “These girls and women have been duped by a boyfriend, taken by someone. It’s got to stop.”

End Slavery Georgia held a fundraising luncheon last week, focusing on raising money to build a safe haven for survivors of the sex trade. Crumbly and Thom Holt started the organization — originally called Rome Cares — just a little over a year ago.

The building would be 6,500 square feet, built near Journey Church, where Crumbly serves as pastor. It would offer the women who escape sex trafficking a safe place to stay and get counseling during the recovery process. The organization also works toward educating others about sex trafficking.

“Rome is set up to be a place to help these women recover,” he said. “We are a gracious, generous community and we can help these women.”

Crumbly was inspired to start this fight by a young woman he met who wandered up to Journey Church.

The woman approached the church one day as Crumbly’s wife and daughter were holding a meeting. They saw her in the parking lot and she approached them, asking if they had any food.

“They told her ‘of course’ and gave her food,” he said. “Then she asked if she could stay in our parking lot, because she felt safe there. My wife and daughter were stunned.”

The woman ended up staying with Crumbly’s daughter. Her story about being used in the sex trade stunned Crumbly and broke his heart, he said.

“She said she was locked in a room on the second floor of a house in an Atlanta suburb,” he said. “She escaped because one of the men that paid to have sex with her left her door unlocked by mistake. She somehow managed to make it to Rome.”

Crumbly was galvanized by her story, he said.

“Something in me melted away and changed me forever,” he said. “I will be damned if I don’t do something about this. I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

He added that the number of women and girls who have been trafficked is higher than most realize.

“I guarantee you, you’ve rubbed shoulders with survivors,” he said. “I watched a Ted Talk video with Jimmy Carter saying that the problem here will never stop until men stand up and do something about it. Well, I’m doing something about it. We are here to do something about it.”

Every two minutes, a girl is taken by force or tricked into working in the sex trade, he said.

“While I’ve been talking, think about it, nine women or girls have been drawn in,” he said. “The average age of a victim of sex trafficking in Georgia

is 13. The average lifespan is seven years from the time they are taken.”

ESG has worked to develop an eBay store where they sell items to help fund the organization. Members also are working to raise funds through donations.

“We want to be able to help these girls and women in every way,” he said. “Think about a young girl taken at 13 and say she escapes at 15 or later. Think about how much she’s lost. We want to provide workshops, job training, counseling.”

The group also hopes to train young girls how to look for danger signs, he said.

“Trollers go to malls, sporting events,” he said.

A survivor’s tale

Survivor Susan Roberts is hoping to be part of the facility when it is finished, she said.

“I was 26 when I started,” she said. “I started dating a guy, he was very charming. I met him through a friend and he told me he made a lot of money in promotions.”

Roberts said there were always a lot of girls around, and while she thought it was strange, she never asked and assumed it was part of his business.

She and the man stopped seeing each other after a few months. Soon after, she lost her job and was worried about what to do. The man “pounced” on her, she said.

“He approached me and told me we could make like $100,000 in just a few days,” Roberts said. “He told me that the guys I would go out with would just want to take me out, buy me things.”

She had battled drug addiction in the past. The man got her back on drugs and put her on the website, Backpage.com.

“There were several girls with us,” Roberts said. “I guess I was kind of his prize cow. There was a lot of violence, especially if the girls asked questions.”

One of her clients approached her about meeting in private, saying he would pay her directly.

“I didn’t know that (the pimp) was looking through my phone,” she said. “He grabbed me by my throat and slammed me against a wall. He poured alcohol down my throat and threatened to kill me and my family if I did that again.”

Other girls Roberts knew were also abused and beaten, she said.

“A friend of mine, she saw a client privately and her pimp found out,” she said. “He pistol-whipped her and raped her using the pistol.”

The pimps have total control, Roberts explained.

“It is brainwashing,” she said. “They tell you how special you are, you are their girlfriend. They tell you that a whore is someone who gives it away to everyone for free. Why give away for free, what you can make money on?”

When Roberts was able to get away from her pimp, her client decided to step in and take her over, she said.

“He set me up in this nice house in a nice area and he kept me like a sex slave,” she said. “He constantly fed me Xanax, cocaine, whatever drug he could. If I tried to leave the house, he had cameras everywhere and would call me and tell me ‘I’m watching you right now.’”

Roberts said she kept praying and trying to get away.

“I would stare out the window all the time and try to think of ways to get away, but it seemed hopeless,” she said. “He wanted to get me pregnant. I started wondering how someone could do this to another person.”

She found out about an organization that helps women escape the sex trade, called Out of Darkness.

“They came, they rescued me,” she said. “I had to go to detox and went through withdrawals. I was placed at a home and recovered.”

But she still worries and fights the effects of the trauma she went through.

“I think about my pimp, my friends, and I wonder how they are,” she said. “This whole span was about six months of my life. I find myself wondering about other people’s agendas. I feel like I’m an object all the time, only good for one purpose.”

She finds herself looking at men she doesn’t know and wondering if they have visited Backpage.

“It is very hard to trust anyone,” she said. “I see it in every man. I hate it when men approach me and try to flirt with me.”

Roberts said she also feels numb.

“It is a survival method,” she said. “You have to find a way to survive it all mentally, or you will fall apart. I remember the first call I went to, I felt so dirty afterward. I tried to wash myself from the inside out. I got so low after that, I just started to take it.”

She warned that what happened to her could happen to anyone.

“The pimps, they are smart,” she said. “They go to places where women are vulnerable. They lurk in places like DFCS offices. They know women there have no money, they look for those who have no family or place to live.”

Now, she has a dream for herself.

“I want to help other trafficked women,” Roberts said. “I want them to know they can survive. They can stop feeling worthless. They can get better. They deserve better.”

‘The average age of a victim of sex trafficking in Georgia is 13. The average lifespan is seven years from the time they are taken.’ ‘It is very hard to trust anyone. I see it in every man.’