History of Saved In America

A California Non- Profit Organization of Former Police Officers and Navy SEALs turned Licensed and Insured Private Investigators who assist Parents and Law Enforcement in locating Missing & Exploited Children

Narrative by Founder: Pastor Joseph A. Travers, CPI, CCDI, CMECI
“Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

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On September 21, 2009, I was reading an article from the Orange County Register, “Retired Terror Hunters Hope to End Child Sex Slavery” (in foreign countries). This recalled the news I heard recently regarding a missing 17-year-old girl who left her parent’s home in New York. Brittanee Drexel was last seen in a hotel video in South Carolina on April 25th. Where was she? (In August 2016 the FBI reported that Brittanee was taken from the hotel in Myrtle Beach by a gang member pimp to a stash house in North Carolina for several days then repeatedly raped by gang members and shot dead. The case was solved in 2022 and the predator responsible is in custody).

As a former Law Enforcement Officer and current Licensed & Insured Private Investigator, I have seen many cases of missing children. The statistics are grim and disheartening. I knew many children ended up being trafficked into human slavery and felt compelled to meet the “Terror Hunters”, to see if there was a way to perform these recoveries in the United States.  Through a series of meetings, I met a former Navy SEAL, Jeff Bramstedt who, along with Trial Attorney Alexandria Phillips, helped form Saved In America (SIA)*. It was decided after several meetings and operational discussions that Saved In America would focus on preventing gangbanger/pimp/predator/slave traders from securing girls to traffic here in the United States. This meant assisting to recover children before they could be trafficked. Saved In America would assist parents and law enforcement to find the missing children, the runaways like Brittanee. In December 2014, SIA was formed and recovered its first child.

The Saved In America team model consists of three pillars; 1. We never charge parents/ guardians to find their children. 2. We do this voluntarily. 3. We use former Special Operators, Police Officers, and Tech Operators who become Licensed and Insured Private Investigators.

Saved In America’s operators are licensed and insured Private Investigators consisting of former Navy SEALs, Marine Recon Raiders, other Military Special Operators , and Police Officers. In addition, SIA has a Director of Investigation, Case Manager, Community Outreach/ Events Coordinator, Social Networking Investigator, Licensed Drone Operators and State Licensed Firearms Instructors. SIA also has a reserve of operators across the nation of more than 100 Licensed Investigators and Law Enforcement Officers. Since our initial operation in December 2014 Saved In America has assisted parents and law enforcement in the recovery of more than 270 children nationwide. The approach and techniques used by Saved In America help guide the rest of the nation on how to stop child sex trafficking before it happens, by focusing on runaway and missing children. Saved In America has taught its investigative techniques to the Human Smuggling & Trafficking Center, Washington, DC, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Licensed Investigator Associations in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama, and for the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California.

Thank you ‘Terror Hunters’ for your inspiration, and the remembrance of Brittanee Drexel, who started and continues to drive Saved In America’s work. On November 1, 2018, at the 2nd annual Saved In America #ChildSavedNotSold event in Del Mar, California, Saved In America awarded its first ‘Brittanee Drexel Scholarship’ to a survivor of Child Sex Trafficking. Brittanee’s mother Dawn presented the award.

The Saved In America story has been published in a book titled - “Investigation of Missing & Exploited Children: The Gateway to Child Sex Trafficking, 4th Edition October 2021. Available for purchase here. If you know someone who has a missing or runaway child, please refer them to Saved In America for help. You can contact SIA at 760.348.8808 or email info@savedinamerica.org. You can also complete a “Need Our Help” application online.

*Saved In America was initially formed as a DBA of National Christian Information Center, Inc, a 501(C)3 organization based on the book of James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” In 2018 the number of parents and orphans who needed assistance grew substantially. Saved In America, Incorporated was formed as a separate 501(C)3 organization and assumed control over National Christian Information Inc’s recovery and rescue program. #ChildSavedNotSold