Greenville tops South Carolina list for reported human trafficking cases

Angelia L. Davis | The Greenville News

Show Caption Hide Caption Human trafficking tunnel found at border It's not unusual for drug cartels to reclaim old tunnels on the Mexican side of the border, and that's what may have happened here. Video provided by Newsy

Greenville County is the top location in the state for reported cases of human trafficking, the South Carolina Attorney General's Office said.

In 2016, there were 78 cases reported in the state, according to the South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force Annual Report; 56 of those cases were sex trafficking, 17 labor trafficking, two sex and labor trafficking, and three were classified as other or not specified. The list was released Friday during the two-day Southeast Human Trafficking Coalition meeting, hosted by the state Office of the Attorney General.

Fifteen of the cases in 2016 were reported in Greenville County. Charleston, Horry, Richland, and Beaufort counties had 12, nine, eight, and four reported cases, respectively.

More: Greenville partnership to offer path of transformation to victims of sex trafficking

According to state Attorney General Alan Wilson, human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world.

“South Carolina sits right between two of the top-20 hubs for it — Atlanta and Charlotte,” he said. “That’s why we created our Human Trafficking Task Force. It’s going to take all of us working together to fight this modern-day slavery.”

Last year, 18 human trafficking cases were closed in a South Carolina state court. Of those 18, seven were charges involving minors. Three guilty pleas, taken for human trafficking in 2017, all involved victims under the age of 18, the annual report said. As of Dec. 29, 2017, there are 72 human trafficking cases pending in state courts, the report said.

Transformative work launches in Greenville Becca Stevens, the founder of Thistle Farms, talks about the transformative power of her organization, which provides healing and a path to freedom for women trapped in a cycle of sexual exploitation, prostitution, and addiction. A model of that program, Jasmine Road, has formally launched in Greenville

The attorney general’s meeting included anti-human trafficking advocates from eight states.

“To turn the tide on trafficking we must be able to properly define it, recognize it, and know who to call when we see it,” said Jerry Redman, chief executive officer of Second Life Tennessee (Chattanooga).

Read the report at http://humantrafficking.scag.gov/