COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- A prostitution sting set up by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and assisted by College Station Police Department has landed eight women in the Brazos County Jail.
The women range in age from 18-33 years old. Four are from right here in Bryan and College Station. One woman is from as far as the Amarillo area. They were all found online, met undercover agents and offered some form of sexual encounter but this sting was not just about getting these women off the streets.
Catching these prostitutes is just the first step in what the Texas Department of Transportation hopes to accomplish. The real goal isn't to target these women but to find who might be either forcing or compelling them to commit these crimes. DPS is combating human trafficking. It's a complex initiative that Still Creek Ranch, a place young victims go to restore their lives, says makes a huge impact.
"They've been abused by all of the people in their life that are supposed to love them so they are very hardened and don't always understand that what they've done isn't healthy, isn't the appropriate life style," says Chloe Bush, the marketing director at Still Creek Ranch.
Chloe says most of the girls at Still Creek Ranch who were trafficked were either sold by their parents or ran away from a an unstable home and were taken in by someone who eventually persuaded them into prostitution.
"These girls often don't see a future for themselves. It difficult for them to image getting through he next day. There is a large possibility that they could die," says Bush.
Still Creek Ranch's "Restore Her" program gives underage victims a second chance at life, with a place to call home and a Christian based education. In an academic study, on average female sex trafficking victims are first victimized between 12 to 14 years old.
"It's vital that law enforcement are doing investigations and trying to find the people who are pulling these women and girls into these situations," says Bush.
So they can prosecute the criminals and get help for the victims.
"We teach them that they can do things that their past does not keep them from accomplishing things in life and now we have girls that are going to college and want to be medical missionaries and want to work in law enforcement so they can combat trafficking from a more powerful position," says Bush.
