Huddled in the backroom of a Miramar gun shop, our group of volunteers converge with a singular mission in mind: finding Sara, a missing 15-year-old North County girl. At the time of the meeting, this young girl who ran away after meeting someone online had been missing for 45 days. That is 45 days of heartache of not knowing what was coming, a nightmarish existence for Sara’s family. Thankfully, our organization, Saved In America, is made up of a group of professional volunteers, including ex-Navy SEALs and former law enforcement officers. Our volunteers, who are all licensed and insured private investigators, are experienced in tracking down leads and solving even the most puzzling missing cases.

Chasing Down Leads, Showing Surveillance 

In Sara’s case, our social networking investigator, revealed footage to the team of Sara with a man in a Santa Monica thrift store. The surveillance showed that Sara was noticeably thinner and had shorter, darker hair. Sara actually tipped off the team as to where she was hiding after messaging a friend through Instagram. Everything online is a “daisy chain of information,” like following bread crumbs. Our investigators also discovered that Sara was currently using an alias after she posted an online ad for sexual services. Once Sara’s location was discovered, the team alerted the Santa Monica police to pick her up. 

Sara’s Case Isn’t Unique

Unfortunately, Sara’s case is far from isolated. Director of SIA, Joseph Travers, explains that cases like hers are playing out with similar scenarios within our own backyard. In fact, according to the FBI, San Diego is currently one of the country’s top 13 high-intensity child prostitution areas. Furthermore, a 2016 study by the Point Loma Nazarene University and the University of San Diego identified the sex trafficking industry as the county’s second-largest underground economy, second only to drugs. Human trafficking within the region brings in an astounding $810 million a year. Sadly, around 60% of all runaway girls will be approached by a trafficker within the first 48 hours of running away. 

Saved In America assists to fill in the Gap

Law enforcement officers are already overextended. Consequently, they can’t always commit the manpower necessary to finding girls who voluntarily leave home. That is when our organization helps to fill in the gap —the way we did for Sara— and assist in locating runways before the bad guys have a chance to victimize them. #ChildSavedNotSold