Six girls – four from Eugene – recovered from Portland-area hotel
The Eugene Police Department held a press conference Monday, Feb. 24, at 1:30 p.m. in regard to the recovery of teen human trafficking victims in the Portland area on Feb. 20.
Following a call reporting shots fired as well as “possible abduction of juveniles” on Feb. 18 in the 400 block of E. 15th, Eugene Police patrol officers opened an investigation.
On Feb. 19, EPD received a call regarding “two missing/runaway juveniles in their mid-teens who were believed to have been taken to the Portland area for possible trafficking.” EPD’s Special Investigations Unit took over the case on Feb. 20 and worked with Portland Police and the parents of the missing teens. By 6 p.m. Portland Police recovered six female juveniles from a Portland hotel room.
A joint investigation with Portland Police and EPD is ongoing. While there are no further updates on the case, Captain Shawn Adams encouraged the Eugene community to “be diligent and vigilant and look for signs and symptoms of human trafficking particularly, in this case, juvenile females.”
“This will be a fairly lengthy investigation, we’re really in the infancy of this investigation so it’s going to take some time before we put it all together,” said Adams.
Many think of human trafficking as a problem that exists in larger cities, but Adams emphasized that it is everywhere.
When asked about the prevalence of human trafficking in Eugene, Adams said, “Human trafficking is very, very difficult to get an assessment on because it’s greatly underreported. Victims of human trafficking will not report to law enforcement out of fear – fear of losing their livelihood or physical fear of their pimps. It’s very rare that someone will report that they’re being victimized via human trafficking. What we do rely on are members of the community.”
Young children and juvenile females are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Captain Adams said to be on the lookout for “individuals who are in what looks to be a controlling relationship, any type of obvious coercive behavior, or physical injuries”. In the case of children, physical injury mandates an investigation by law enforcement.
“For these cases, we will run aggressively,” said Adams. “We will go after and hold those accountable who are engaging in human trafficking. To the length and degree that we can here at the Eugene Police Department, we won’t tolerate it.”
EPD released the following statement and encourages all community members to report red flags of human trafficking:
“A child or adult who:
– Has a manager or ‘pimp’
– Can’t move freely and appears to be controlled (although some are allowed to go shopping and visit friends, they are closely watched and have restrictions)
– Is a child and is dressed in an inappropriate way for their age to attract customers
– Seems fearful, timid, and avoids eye contact
– Is fearful of police contact
– Seems to be in debt to someone
– Has signs of abuse (physical and mental), malnourishment, anxiety, bruising, scars, memory issues, lack of medical care
– Does not appear to have their own possessions
– Is moved from city to city frequently
– Has tattoos or brands that signify ownership”
We must protect our children with no limit. This is a horrific situation that we have police doing traffic for profit rather then going after real criminals.