Sex trafficking is a known problem of significant proportion within the valley area. Thankfully, as outlined by this story on Fox 5 Vegas, our organization Saved in America is on the job and has led a rescue mission in the Las Vegas area. 

The Team at Saved in America 

Our team at Saved in America is made up of our founder Joe Travers, who is a former law enforcement officer and current licensed private investigator. The rest of our team consists of valuable members Frank Bonniwell, who specializes in Tech Ops, Toshiro Carrington (Tosh), a retired Navy SEAL Chief, Sean Murphy, a retired San Diego police lieutenant and Ulisses Palafox, a former federal agent and specialist drone operator. 

The Las Vegas Mission

On the day of the mission, our team was set to rescue a 15-year-old girl from San Jose, Las Vegas. She was called “Maria” to disguise her true identity. Maria’s mother was the reporting party, alerting the team to the fact that she was missing and thought to be a victim of sex trafficking. 

Painting a Picture of Maria’s Situation

The Saved in America team worked to learn more about Maria and where she could be by accessing and studying her social media activities. Eventually, their intel gave them an idea where to look for Maria and the team set out to do just that, launching from their mobile command center. 

The Outcome

Unfortunately, the team at Saved in America was unable to locate Maria that day. Team member Murphy explained the process of searching for and sometimes “not finding” the object of their search:

“Somebody told me one night: ‘Ever gone fishing? Did you catch all the fish? You’re never going to catch them all. You’re never going to find them all. It’s impossible. If we save one girl, we save one girl” 

Stay the Course

While the outcome wasn’t exactly what the team had hoped to achieve when searching for Maria that day, they are encouraged that their efforts will save many others like Maria. All is not lost and even one life saved is one worth saving. Consequently, it is worthwhile to keep going and attempting to locate as many victims of sex trafficking as possible.