Human trafficking on the rise in Pike County
By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — More human trafficking than ever before now goes through Pike County, which has become a transition point because of its highways, said Diane Quintiliani, Director of Education and Outreach at Safe Haven of Pike County.
“Human trafficking is, and has been, a silent problem for far too long,” she said. “The problem in Pike County is its geographical situation. Route 84 has become a conduit for the transfers. The law enforcement officials have discovered that the traffic that used to go through Route 95 from the south to get to New Jersey and New York City has started using 81 to Scranton, 84 through Pike County, and 17 in Middletown, and from there on to the city. We do have this problem."
She said Safe Haven's task force, which works with local police, has expanded to include human trafficking.
Quintiliani gave an alarming statistic.
“Between 12,000 and 15,000 people are brought into the New York City area during Super Bowl itself," she said. She said it's the largest human trafficking event every year.
Shuttered houses
She described what can happen in Pike County. There are signs that show when a house might be the site for human trafficking, she said: the building is shuttered, there is activity at night and in the early morning, and "if you find someone is working and sleeping in the same building. People are held prisoners there, it’s a form of slavery, and it includes both girls and boys.”
“We’re talking about young people," Quintiliani continued. "Runaways, or ‘throwaway’ kids, between the ages of 13 and 25. These kids are on the streets, or their families are not concerned about them, or they actually sell the kids because they find it very lucrative. You can sell a kid over and over again, unlike, say, drugs that, once they’re sold, are gone. If I have a human person that I’m selling, I can use that person over and over again.”
The methods the traffickers use to lure young people are deceptive.
“A lot of the times, kids are dancers, or want to be dancers, and they tell them, ‘We can bring you to London, to Germany, to become a dancer,'" she said. "They go, and once there, they’re told, 'Your job now is to service these men.'”
She said pimps often "date" the girls first.
"They promise them things, they are ‘dating’ them," she said. The victims "leave everything for them — their families — and if they dare to protest, they now know everything about their families, including where they live, and they threaten that they are going to kill them. They're kids. They feel they’re trapped. It’s a very big problem.”
Safe Haven is in contact with other agencies — in Orange County, N.Y., Newton, N.J., and Wayne, N.J., Quintiliani said.
Local law enforcement officials said they were unable to comment. Lieutenant Christopher Paris of the Pennsylvania State Police at Blooming Grove said Harrisburg Homeland Security handles these matters.
Officer Tom Mutin of Harrisburg Homeland Security said that while he could not give specifics of the Pike County situation, he confirmed what Quintiliani said: contrary to what many local people think, human trafficking is not all from the south, or from across the border. These are kids in our midst, in our home towns, he said.
“Many people are thinking stereotypes, non-American, new immigrants who get placed into these situations," Mutin said. "But often they are American home towns and situations, runaways who are being taken advantage of by these predators for financial gain. The greater number are young people from our own communities, frequently under 18 that are taken advantage of, or who have fallen under the spell of someone who controls them."
Earlier this spring, Safe Haven of Pike County sponsored The Tri-State Conference on Human Trafficking at Best Western at Hunt's Landing in Matamoras as part of their Sexual Assault Awareness Month program.