Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Taylor Swift's groping trial & sex trafficking in your town

Episode Date: August 9, 2017

Nancy Grace updates Taylor Swift's court battle with a DJ over her allegation he groped her before a concert. Then, former CIA agent Tim Ballard talks about efforts to stop human trafficking around the world and in your neighborhood. Ballard warns the Floyd Mayweather fight with Conor McGregor will mean a convergence of sex slavery in Las Vegas. Reporters Ninette Sosa and Alan Duke join in the discussion. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. federal courtroom. She's getting ready to take the stand in her civil suit against a radio DJ who she accuses of groping her during a photo op. Swift is being sued by former KYGO DJ David Mueller. Swift claimed Mueller's hand grabbed her backside inappropriately and his radio station fired him. This TMZ picture showing the two together will be at the center of the trial. Look at where his hand is. It's an odd spot. My hand was never under her skirt. I never grabbed her. Mueller is asking for millions. Swift, just one dollar. It's about women's rights. It's something that's been going on for years, and women are saying enough is enough. It is day three for Taylor Swift, and I'm not talking about day three of a blockbuster concert or a world tour. It's day three of Taylor Swift at trial.

That's right. And I noticed that every article starts with what Taylor Swift wore. The superstar is reportedly wearing a high-necked black dress with her hair in a sleek ponytail. Why is that important? We're talking about a guy sexually groping her, according to Taylor Swift. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us. We are taking your calls straight out to the lines with Otis. Hi, Otis. What's your question about Taylor Swift? Before you even get cranked up, Otis, did you know now there are reports that the DJ involved has changed his story seven times she is stuck with her story that he groped her bare skin rear end at a meet and greet and took a picture of it for Pete's sake. And now he has actually sued her, claiming he lost his job because she brought it to light.

Okay, Otis, what's your question? Thanks, Nancy. My question is, what was his motivation? Was he really just trying to look for a quick settlement from Taylor Swift, or did he want all this stuff to become public? Hold on. Otis, maybe I don't understand his motivation. What is any man's motivation when they grab your rear end?

No, no. Is that what you're saying? No, motivation. What's his motivation for grabbing Taylor Swift's rear end? Help me, somebody. Quick. Life support. What do you mean, what's his motivation?

Motivation for the lawsuit. Excuse me. You know, if you call in to Crime Stories, you've got to be clear, okay? What is his motivation for the lawsuit? Now, that's a good one. Hold on, Otis. Alan Duke is joining me and investigative reporter Nanette Sosa. Alan Duke, Otis wants to know his motivation, not for the butt grab, but the lawsuit.

Well, I think this guy wanted publicity and money. But as far as grabbing, you know, I just don't think that you get a lot at a photo shoot when you grab. And I don't think that was anything other than an accident. An accident? Whoa, whoa. Yeah. Did you say accident?

Yeah. I wish you could have seen Jackie's head twirl around. I'm looking at that picture. It's like out of the exorcist. It went around 360 degrees. An accident to go down and up the dress? That's an accident? A photo is capturing less than 1 60th of a second, an image of what happened.

He says that all he did was he reached out. He put his arm on her. He felt ribcage. He said his hand was closed under testimony. And he said he felt a ribcage, but his hand was closed. This is what he said under oath. He felt the ribcage. Is Otis still on the line?

Yes, I'm here. Otis, did you hear that? Alan thinks he mistook her rear end for her ribcage. No, he wasn't going for the rear end. That's funny. The photos are so deceptive. She's a sweet girl. Lady.

You know what, Alan? You just need to stop when you're ahead. Okay, with me, Nanette Sosa. Nanette Sosa is a respected investigative reporter, Alan. Respected. Nanette, why has this guy changed his story seven times, and how has he changed his story seven times? Why would anybody change a story unless they're nervous about something and they're trying to backtrack, you know, go left or right? That would be about

the only reason you would change your story. In addition, why is he suing or why did this all end up with Taylor Swift when he lost his job? Why did he not go after his radio station or its management in a lawsuit for terminating him? Oh, back to Otis's phone call. If Otis is still with us. Yes, I'm here. That's a really good point she's brought up, Otis. This lawsuit is not about, quote, clearing his good name, but about a payday. That's what I would think.

It comes down to money. Anytime, even to investigate stories and so forth, a lot of times, follow the money. With this guy, a DJ times, follow the money. With this guy, a DJ, you follow the money. And was there going to be a quick resolution? Taylor Swift caves in, pays off, or however that might be. But it's now dragged out for years, and he has no job. Or if he does, there are small gigs that he's doing. But again, why did he not go after his own company for terminating him? Joining me right now is Max from North Carolina. Hi, Max.

What's your question? Well, something that may or may not have a connection, but he was not wearing a pen. Okay, you know, it's interesting how certain people gravitate towards certain facts in a story. I think we've established yesterday, correct me if I'm wrong, Alan Duke and Annette Sosa, that she was wearing a thong, a.k.a. anal floss, a.k.a. one of those little bitty skinny underwears that go up your rear end, and that she did have on underwear. And actually, if she was giving a concert,

I could see her wearing something like that so you wouldn't see lines in her outfit. Hey, hey, hey, hold on. Hold on, guy. And so when the guy grabbed her rear end, it was hand-to-skin contact, but that she was wearing a thong. Now, I don't know what that has to do with anything, her choice of underwear,

but apparently it's concerning our friend from North Carolina. Why are all the callers men today? That's interesting. Your only question for North Carolina is, was she wearing underwear? Forget about the alleged assault, but was she wearing underwear? Is that the question? No, not at all. It just amused me that all of a sudden.

That's funny because that's what you said. It's funny that that's not the question because that's what you said. No, no. I was only mentioning an updated aspect on this thing. I mean, she. An updated aspect on this thing. Okay, go ahead. so that's not your question what is your question max well i wish i had a real question but i know that this guy is obviously

uh you know hurting and some lawyer somewhere said hey let's sue her. We can do that. And whoever said, why didn't they sue the company that fired him over that kind of information that Swift had called them and complained, or her people had, don't you think he should have sued the company that fired him over that kind of a... Okay, I don't know really what to think about that rambling question I heard, but did I hear you say that the DJ accused of groping Taylor Swift is hurting H-U-R-T-I-N-G? Did you say that?

Yes. I think you did. You know, Alan Duke with me on the story, along with investigative reporter Nanette Sosa, hurting. This guy's hurting. What? Why? Why is he hurting?

Well, he lost his career. Who's going to hire a DJ who's this infamous now? Another shock jock radio station, probably. Probably. You look at his face, though. Look at his face. He looks like he's a little creepy, though. I'll have to give him that.

He's got the face for... Don't judge a book by its cover, please. He's got the face for creepy radio. Let's just say that. Let's talk about, for a moment, with Nanette Sosa, the seven different stories that David Mueller, a 55-year-old DJ out of Denver, allegedly has told. Okay?

We are still taking your calls on Taylor Swift before we head to our next topic. But the various stories were, let's see, our hands touched and our arms touched. I know our arms crossed and touched. Okay. That's one.

Then there was a time in that. So, so that he said he touched her rear end by accident. Then there was a time, Nanette Sosa, that he said he touched her rear end by accident. Then there was a time that he said, I didn't touch her rear end. Then we've got the rib cage that he accidentally touched her rib cage. I'm missing three stories. Let's see, what was it? I'm missing three stories.

Nanette, what are the other three versions? He testified that he had no inkling. Remember that one? He had no inkling that anything happened until after Swift's security team approached him with the allegation. And so that was probably the very first one. What happened was his first take on it. He didn't know anything. The thing is, and this often came up in rape cases and sex assault cases,

where if the victim waited for a period of time, it made the case weaker because a jury might think that it was fabricated. Whereas if there's an immediate, as we say in the law, outcry, an outcry to a, quote, outcry witness where the victim immediately says this happened to me. It makes the case a lot stronger. Many people think there is a so-called gap time in this case, but there's not. True. The lawsuit came a couple of years later where the DJ actually sued her, Taylor Swift, but she made an immediate outcry, Nanette Sosa.

She immediately told her parents, her team, everybody. In fact, they tracked the guy down immediately out in the concert, didn't they, Nanette? They did, but it wasn't him face-to-face. They approached his team of people through his work and the company that hired him. So at the moment that the incident happened, it's one of those gritty kind of smiles. And I'm sure your head is thinking, okay, do I say something now? Do I cause a commotion? Do I embarrass this guy at this very minute? Or do I do this photo shoot? And we'll take this up in about a couple of hours when I approach his colleagues or his bosses.

Well, they did kick him out of the concert. Yeah, he got kicked out of the concert. But I think she's right that they approached him. I'm not sure exactly who they approached first, but somebody in his camp. Taylor Swift supposedly is a longtime friend of this guy's boss. And so Taylor's mom called the boss. Well, this is where it stands right now. An eight-person jury in Denver has started hearing testimony in Taylor Swift versus DJ David Mueller. As you know, Mueller stands accused of grabbing the superstar on her rear end without her permission during a visit backstage.

It was at the Pepsi Center in Denver, June 2013. Mueller is seeking money compensation, claiming that when Swift reported the incident, it led to him being fired from KYGO. The photo of the incident is a major piece of evidence. It was shown during opening statements. The jury has seen it multiple times throughout Tuesday's testimony and he repeatedly denied touching Swift inappropriately. He described how he remembered the moment. Now this is what happened in court. The DJ Mueller states he didn't want to go to the Sunday night concert, right, because he had to work the next morning. Okay, you get free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, but you don't want to go.

I didn't pitch him right there on that. After standing in line for a really long time, he and his then girlfriend. And colleague. Shannon Melcher. They go into the photo booth room. Where Swift is standing there for meet and greets. He testifies he and Melcher were in the room with Swift. And five other people.

Including a photographer. That something happened to cause him to conclude. Swift was acting quote. Cold and standoffish. Gee, I wonder what it was. What could have caused that, an immediate change in her behavior? When she didn't invite me to pose, I considered that was standoffish and cold. Now, see, he's stuck with that, Alan Duke. In his deposition, he's caught saying she, Swift, was acting cold and standoffish suddenly.

So how does he explain that? He says because she didn't want to do the meet and greet, that that's it. Okay, that's a crack in the armor right there. But he goes on to say that his right arm was extended with his hand closed and his palm facing down. Okay, that's what's happening in the Taylor Swift case. Her parents are flanking her and the DJ has been on the stand. You know, let's hold. I want to thank our partner.

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ZipRecruiter.com. Thank you. And now, on Crime Stories Mayweather and McGregor will go toe-to-toe in Las Vegas on August 26 They call me Money Mayweather for a reason, you know I'm gonna get it regardless Human trafficking is a problem everywhere to include the United States The average age of the children who are being sold is 13

Baroffals, massage parlors I met my first pimp before I was 16. What to look for in regards to traffickers. I found myself trapped, afraid to get out, and scared for my life. 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Sam. To mark the occasion, Pocketbooks is proud to release a special anniversary edition e-book of Son of Sam by Lawrence D. Klausner. This is an incredible story of how a single man, David Berkowitz,

dubbed Son of Sam, the demon-haunted.44 caliber killer, killed six, wounded several others, and terrorized millions of New Yorkers over eight known attacks from July 1976 through August 1977. It's also the story of the greatest manhunt in the history of the New York Police Department, the intimate narrative of the men assigned to tracking down a lone killer. The police task force investigated more than 3,000 suspects, some of them cops, before finally making an arrest. In the meantime, politicians watched a city writhe in panic, newspapers played upon the fears of their readers, and the criminal justice system showed itself incapable of coping with the

man who committed such horrendous crimes. Download Summer of Sam by Lawrence D. Klausner today. Royalties earned from the sale of this book will be shared between the victims or their families and the author. Believe it or not, human trafficking is at an all-time high. And I'm not talking about in Bangkok or some little village in Singapore. I'm talking about right here on U.S. soil. And believe it or not, one of the hotbeds of human trafficking seems to be not only the Atlanta International Airport, but Vegas. And it only gets worse before a major sporting event like the Super Bowl or the upcoming Mayweather McGregor fight, expecting to bring in thousands of human trafficking victims on American soil.

Joining me right now is an expert, in addition to Nanette Sosa, investigative reporter. Also with me, Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, who started his career at the CIA, where he worked cases with terrorism and Latin America. He spent over a decade as a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security, where he was then assigned to Internet Crimes Against Children and deployed as an undercover operative in the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. There's so much more I could say about Tim Ballard, our special guest today. But Tim, I want to thank you for being with us. It's hard for me to believe in my workaday world,

you know, where I'm working and taking care of the twins and working and taking care of the twins. It's like a circle that out there, really right under my nose. Human trafficking is happening here on American soil. You have suggested that the Mayweather-McGregor upcoming fight is expected to bring in hordes of human traffickers. Explain. Yeah, this is, it's a tragic thing. It's an epidemic. It's a plague. I mean, you consider the demand.

I mean, it's estimated by the UN that there are over two million children in the world who are currently being exploited in traffic. These are children. I didn you consider that the United States has the highest child porn consumption rate and the highest child porn production rate, the demand is coming from right here. And so when there's a lot of people showing up in the United States and these horrible human beings who are looking at child pornography, who are looking for children to have sex with them wherever they congregate, whether it's at the Mayweather fight or a Super Bowl, these traffickers will bring these kids that are here in the United States to service that demand. There's 250,000 estimated children in the United States

that are for sale in this way. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Listening to you is like drinking from a fire hydrant. I just can't take it in. It's just coming so fast. And I don't want to stop you because I want to hear every single word. But did you just say 250,000 children? 250,000 children in the United States. That's the estimate that are currently

forced into the commercial sex trade here. And that number increases. Where are they? First of all, how do they get taken? So generally, it's kids who don't have a lot of parental supervision. They don't have a lot of, you know, people taking care of them. Kids who run away, they'll get picked up by pimps. A lot of them, according to State Department, 10,000, roughly 10,000 kids a year are smuggled from outside the United States. How do they get in? What's that? How do they get in? How do they get in without being caught? Smuggling people into the United States is pretty easy to do. I worked along the border for 10 years of my career, and those are porous borders indeed. And so if a trafficker knows what they're doing, they know how to smuggle people in and out and they can get kids into

the country. You know, a lot of the Americans that we catch are overseas. We catch them in Mexico and Thailand where law enforcement is less effective. But for those who don't want to travel, they can find them here and the traffickers bring them to to our to their clients in the united states do you remember and i'm sure you do the former subway sandwich pitch man jared fogel yes he was go now convicted going through all those machinations to have underage sex and allegedly brought juveniles to the plaza hotel while i'm downstairs with John David and Lucy having tea with Eloise, you know, he's upstairs trying to have underage sex. So there is a huge appetite for that, not just in other countries, here in the U.S. And I'm not quite sure how it happens or how it can be stopped. me ask you this there were a lot of theories

and not not just theories in fact a major investigation launched on this because new information allegedly came to light in the search for a missing child maddiedie McCann. Do you remember when beautiful Maddie McCann went missing from the family vacation and nobody could figure out what had happened? But then it came to light that she may have been taken by human traffickers that really brought this topic to the forefront in the U.S., Tim. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, with Maddie's case, there are a number of reasons

that might have taken her. What we find is that kids are taken for either for sex trafficking, for labor trafficking, and for organ harvesting, which is a very real thing. Organ harvesting. So that's not an urban myth?

That is not an urban myth. That is an absolute thing that happens. We work in developing countries. You know, it's funny, I'm glad that so much attention came to the Maddie McCann case. But people need to remember that what happened to Maddie McCann is happening every day in a country like Haiti, or Colombia, or, you know, a lot of these developing countries where we work, and their parents love them just as much as Maddie's parents loved her, but we somehow forget that this is happening every day. Cases just as profound where kids are being taken and used. And, yes, we run into people who come into a country like Haiti, for example.

They'll buy a child, take that child back to their country where they have a wealthy family who needs a heart or a liver or something for their child, and they will perform that surgery, pull what they need out, and dispose of the child. So these are very real cases. Wait, wait, guys, guys, this is not a sci-fi movie. I am talking with a former CIA operative. With me is Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad.

Go to ourrescue.org. He spent over 10 years as special agent with the Department of Homeland Security and assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He was deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. Okay, this is beyond what I had expected you to say, Tim, that children are actually bought in a country like Haiti, brought here, their organs harvested, and the child, as you said, disposed of. Much of the child human trafficking came to light

when Maddie McCann, beautiful little Maddie McCann, was kidnapped. And according to Portuguese police and British detectives, they both have been investigating the fear, focusing on the theory that Maddie McCann was kidnapped by human traffickers. Portuguese police say they are completely in tune with British detectives, following a tip that a gang of European traffickers snatched Maddie McCann. That brought it all to the forefront for many U.S. citizens, but according to Tim,

this has been going on for many, many years. What is a U.S. child sex tourism jump team? First of all, what is a child sex tour? That's referring to you know when people travel these pedophiles travel whether you know interstate within the united states or travel overseas uh to resort towns uh to look for children and and that's what we we we work largely overseas what do you mean overseas like where like for any any developing nation that has a resort town you can be sure that there are children 10, 11, 12 years old who are being sold for sex. And what our team does is we sign up with foreign law enforcement, and they'll have us sit on a beach where they think trafficking is happening. And we'll literally just sit there. And we have video footage of this we can even share. But we put on our undercover video cameras,

audio video, and we capture these guys who approach us on a beach or a street corner and offer kids to us. And they expect that since we're Americans sitting on this beach, that they know why we're there. And they have a 12-year-old a block away in the house if we'd like to partake of that. And that's how we help these, especially these foreign entities, foreign governments, because we are Americans, we can infiltrate the trafficking situation in their country a lot quicker. And it is everywhere. It's absolutely everywhere. So let me understand something. I remember the first time as a rookie prosecutor, I had a case where on the police report, the cop wrote, I drove into ABC Housing Project and defendant, Alan Duke,

held up a glassine bag at me from the street corner. I, undercover cop, went over and immediately arrested him. And it turned out he had 25 glassine bags of cocaine. I called that cop in. I chewed him a knee rear end. I said, do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think I believe somebody would wave cocaine in a glassine bag on the corner? Get out of here.

And I handed the case off to my investigator to drop. Okay. Fast forward maybe three or four weeks. I was out investigating a homicide case. I drove into ABC Housing Project, and guess what? A guy standing on the corner waved a bunch of glassy bags at me. I'm like, holy crap. Okay, so my point is,

you're saying that you go sit on the beach, and people will come up to you in other countries because they know you're there to find child sex. That's right. That's absolutely right. See, what I'm saying is, Alan, I know you and Nanette are with me. Let me go to Nanette. Nanette, it's not far-fetched. See, I would have thought that's crazy. I go sit on a beach and somebody just walks up and offers me a child. Why would that happen?

Not far-fetched. But it does happen. It's not far-fetched at all. I have been in Central America where men and women even come in under the guise of a care team or missionaries. And I have witnessed men sitting at restaurants with 10 and 11 year old boys, just questioning and grooming them waiting to get up to the hotel rooms. I have sat there and watch this. And it's so frustrating because you think, where are, where's the cops? Where, get me police. But I have to respect that I'm in another country. I'm not going to have. What country was it, Nanette? But I've witnessed it. Nanette, what country was that?

Guatemala, outside of Guatemala City. And I have seen Indian mothers cry and cry up to the steps of the UN building for taking the Indian babies. And I have seen American couples and families waiting to take these Indian babies from these moms who do not want to give up their children. And I believe there's a pause right now for adoption even in Central America, at least in Guatemala. It really chokes me up because I have seen it. And I'll just share quickly one other case, and this is here in the United States of a 13-year-old girl coming across

the border. And I was taking a Greyhound bus. I took a Greyhound bus because I like to see the small cities in the U.S. This is from Arkansas to Atlanta. And I saw the exchange of $3,500 between the men. The girl gets on the bus next to me. And then we pit stop at a small town. And I bought her a soda pop. And she tells me her story. And that when she gets to Atlanta, they're there to pick her up. And I so desperately a soda pop and she tells me her story and that when she gets to Atlanta, they're there to pick her up. And I so desperately tried to intervene when she did get to Atlanta and I lost her and I see her drive away in a car. And that's the end of her story as far as I can see. But it happens. It happens all the time. Guys, we're not talking about just in Haiti. We're not talking about just India. We're not talking about just in Haiti. We're not talking about just India.

We're not talking about just Bangkok or Singapore. We're talking about on U.S. soil in our backyard. And it's all coming to a head right now with the Mayweather fight in Vegas. With me, two special guests, Tim Ballard from the CIA, formerly an operative on sex rings geared toward children, human trafficking, and investigative reporter Nanette Sosa. Tell me why child sex trafficking would reach a zenith in Vegas at the Mayweather-McGregor fight, Tim? Well, you know, it

goes to this group of why people want sex. And, you know, most people have interrogated dozens and dozens of people through my career, and a lot of them have a very similar story where they talk about their pornography addiction

that just got out of hand. And they weren't getting the chemical reaction they wanted from the adult stuff. So they move on to something to shock their system. And they're looking at bestiality, child pornography. And all of a sudden, they're looking for this. And so this debate is just through the roof. And so any time that there's any event

where a lot of people come together, you can bet that there's a good demand. Hold on just a moment. Hold on. The demand. You make it sound like the demand for fidget spinners or for the latest fad food or diet, the demand for it. These are little children, young kids. the demand, it is a felony. You can do life behind

bars for this. Doesn't that change anything for these people? You know, their, their desire, just, I've watched, I've watched smart people who, who are pedophiles, who desire this, do the craziest things, you know, on a sting operation, I'm thinking they're not going to come. They're not going to actually show up to the house. And they show up to the house. You know, it's us on a sting. Because their desire is so great. It's a drug.

Hold on just a second. Let me put this in here. 1-888-373-7888. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Repeat. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center, repeat, toll-free, 888-373-7888. So why would this giant, highly publicized fight be a haven for child human trafficking? I mean, is it like prostitution in Vegas now? Like anything goes, nobody's trying prostitution in Vegas now? Like anything goes?

Nobody's trying to stop it, Tim? Well, yeah. It's not just this fight. It's any big event. I mean, anything at the Staples Center in L.A., any big football game, especially a Super Bowl. Anytime there's a lot of people coming, you can guess, you can bet that a good portion of those people showing up want child sex. And the pimps and the traffickers know that. And what they do is they advertise.

It's all online. In Colombia and Haiti, it might be a beach. In the U.S., it's going to be online. It's going to be on things like Backpage or other social media sites where they know where to drop certain words and advertisements that pedophiles will understand. Like what? And they connect. Like what? Like, for example,

there's codes they've used for a while. I can say this one because it's outdated now, but they used to call, they used to talk about selling cheese pizza. So if you went to the escort site and you hear someone talk about cheese pizza, you know, that was short for child pornography. And then the person would say, I want cheese pizza. Oh, okay. Well, you know, how many pieces do you want? Well, I want 12 pieces. Well, that means I, how many pieces do you want? I want 12 pieces. Well, that means I want a 12-year-old. Then they get offline. What's your number?

And then they get offline, and they make the deal. I've infiltrated dozens and dozens of those kind of deals online where we pretend to be one of the buyers or a seller, and that's how we make our way into this market. So there's a whole kind of language that these pedophiles know. Guys, you don't think that it's real? As of a couple of days ago, updated in the Vegas Review-Journal, a sex trafficking ring with ties to Vegas was busted in California just this past week.

An L.A. detective says it is common for pimps based in L.A. to operate in Vegas. California authorities announced that three people were arrested in connection with a sex trafficking ring involving eight children sold for sex in California, Nevada, and Texas. The Associated Press reports a 30-year-old, a 32-year-old, and a 32-year-old woman face a total of 54 charges, including identity theft and pimping of these victims. I mean, it's happening. It's happening right now. You send your kids off to school. Other kids are being used in this manner. And now we hear there are code words, code words like cheese pizza. With me is Nanette

Sosa, who just told a horrible but true story about her encounter on a Greyhound bus with a child being trafficked. And also with us, expert Tim Ballard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad, to bus these child sex trafficking rings. So I notice all around the Atlanta airport, Tim and Annette, that there are signs, human trafficking not wanted here. Why is that, Tim, and how do you spot it? Sure. I love when I see these advertisements in airports. I'm seeing more and more people are asked to look out for child trafficking. Airline attendants are getting training now,

and there was a case recently where an airline attendant saw a child sitting next to a man. It didn't make sense. Something didn't feel right. And she saw this little girl was going into the bathroom, and she left a note in the bathroom and said, do you need help? I'm here. And the little girl walks out and says, yes, I do. And the flight attendant was right.

And they were able to liberate this child and get this guy arrested. This is the fruits of these campaigns of training, especially in places like airports, bus depots, places where people are moving in and out. We need more of it because this problem is so enormous that the people of the world, the citizens of the world, need to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement because they are in the places where trafficking is

occurring every day. Nanette Sosa is with us. Nanette, weigh in. It does happen. The airports are the place where transfers can happen. There was at one time within Central America, I believe it was Costa Rica, that when you entered that airport, there would be a sign posted that if you are a single white male traveling alone over the age of whether it was 30 or 50, you will be questioned upon entry. I only know that because I had a friend who happened to be a single white male traveling to that country. He actually just turned around and came back because he just didn't even want to deal with that. He had never seen a sign so such a preposterous sign like that, but it's out there and trafficking happens just right underneath your nose. I mean, it could be

the kid next to you with a guardian type person and you just keep your ear to the ground and hope to make eye contact. I mean, that's about the most I can relay about information. But as an individual, what do you do to change that or get help without putting yourself in danger, A? And are authorities going to believe you? According to the AP, LA County deputies found over a dozen female victims, including children, working out of apartments turned brothels. Cops provided very few details when asked about it. He said that Las Vegas's role was being kept close to the vest because they don't want any chance of compromising their case by releasing information to the media. But he did say that Vegas is considered a, quote, metropolis

for trafficking because of large-scale events like the Mayweather-McGregor fight upcoming and the reputation Vegas has. Sex traffickers move from city to city to avoid the police and capitalize on special events like NASCAR, this cop says. Detective Hicks, one day they're in LA, then they're in Vegas or Texas the next day. They actually call it a quote circuit that they see an influx of human trafficking, including children, on weekends. This is a Las Vegas lieutenant speaking. The link between California and Vegas is so strong that they attend meetings, regular meetings in each other's jurisdictions to try to stop this. They're in constant contact with each other, but it's not slowing down the trade.

Back out to Tim Ballard. Tim, how would it go down if you are trying to book a sex tour, a child sex tour, and you're going to the Mayweather fight? How does that happen? So what they would do is they're going to go online, and this is why they're so mobile. This is why it's easy to have this connection between L.A., Las Vegas, Atlanta, wherever they're moving these kids, because it's all online. But they can go online to any escort site,

any legitimate social media site, Craigslist, anywhere where people are buying things or exchanging things, because they can use these legitimate sites, and like I said, use code words, and no one would know if it was watching. But they'd go there first, usually escort sites, and they'd just start looking through, because I've done this many, many times as a special agent, as an investigator, go through the different ads until you see something that looks a little bit different,

looks a little bit, you know, for example, a lot of times these pimps have the kids write their own ads, even though they say, you know, when they sign up, because I have to by law, I'm over 18. But you read the words, you think that sounds like a 12 year old's writing, you know, there's something that throws you and you go to that pimp and you say, I'm interested in this. And then you get them offline and start the exchange. And you got to know how to talk to them without entrapping them and so forth. But because that's how they're doing it. They're booking it through escort sites, through legitimate social media sites, Facebook pages, and the word gets around, right? The word gets around in the pedophile communities about who's selling what, where, and these guys go up and down. They'll put up a Facebook page. They'll take it down. They'll

pop up somewhere else to try to evade the police. But so much of it's online, in the United States especially. Well, I can remember with me also, in addition to Tim Ballard, is Nanette Sosa, also with me, Alan Duke, investigative reporter. Alan, I can remember the first time I worked to bust a child prostitution ring, and we would be, it would be me and three other vice cops on the street, and I remember it was cold, every day. And I had some thin little coat.

I had gotten it, I don't know where. It would be freezing, trying to bust this ring. And I remember going into some flop house, and they said the girl's in there. It was a girl that had just like two days before turned 13. And I went in the room, and there were a bunch of women, and they're just kind of sitting around. And I came back.

I said, those are all women. Where's the girl? Because I needed to get her so I could talk to her, take care of her, and bust the case. They went, that's her in the boots. I went back in. It looked like a 31-year-old woman. She had on the high boots like on Pretty Woman,

and the weave, the long hair all down her back, tons of makeup, the long nails. I looked. I went, that one? And he goes, yeah. It was a little, just turned 13-year-old girl. And then, you know, we bust it. We go to trial. I take the three pimps, is what they were then. Now they're called human traffickers, to trial. I got a mistrial in my opening statement

because I called one of them a pimp and he wasn't charged with pimping. I got a mistrial, whole thing thrown out. Well, that was on a Monday. Tuesday, I took it back to the grand jury and I had him charged with a simple misdemeanor count of pimping. Got a new jury on Thursday with a new indictment and retried him. But, you know, she was so scared that the night before her testimony, she went missing. We had to do an APB, all points bulletin, put it on the news, all the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news. We found her at about 2 a.m. And then, you know, I was up all night and then started the case again the next morning. Needless to say, this guy was put in jail.

But how many more are out there, Alan? I mean, when you hear stories like this and you're at the airport or anywhere, it's scary. These are the age of my children that are getting sold into human trafficking, Alan. It's in every small town. Every small town you see that massage parlor thing, it may or may not be, but that is one of the places. They actually, I've read the State Department report on that. They actually travel in a circuit between those massage parlors, if you will. Another thing, Alan, Nanette, Tim, is that I spoke many, many times with a team at Mercer University

that was undercovering human trafficking. And I think it was massage parlors, just like Alan just said. And what's so amazing is the case I was telling you about between California and Vegas, there was a transaction where a girl was sold in plain sight, in open sight. And it turned into a six month investigation. It all started with one missing child, one missing girl who turned up to be one of these kids sold into sex trafficking. Yeah, a missing kid. Now that I know that, every time I see a missing teen girl, I'm like, I wonder where she is right now. What about it, Tim? Yeah, I mean, you find that one kid and there's going to be,

there's others attached to it. I mean, and I'm so glad we're talking about this because people think too often that it's these isolated incidences, like, oh, the Maddie McCann case and Elizabeth Smart, that happens once every decade. I mean, there's a lot of people who think that. And it's like, no, it's multiple times a day in every country in the world. And until we start talking about it, it's not going away. Law enforcement, especially in the U.S., is doing an awesome, terrific job, but it's just getting too big for any one government, any one agency.

People need to get involved. Media needs to talk about it. People need to be reporting. They need to know that number by heart that you gave earlier, the anti-trafficking line. People need to get involved, or this is not going away. Nancy, may I interject that four days ago I just wrote a story about 44-year-old Lee Hall, who was arrested in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is a resident of that small town that Alan Duke's talking about.

He's from Alma, Arkansas, for trafficking, human trafficking, and also for wanting to sell prostitutes. He is, he's a level three registered sex offender in Alma, but he's also a registered sex offender in Las Vegas. So you talk about that small town circuit, it's ridiculous. Nanette and Tim, my heart is just sick, sick. When I think about my little babies who, you know, they still write to Santa.

They still believe in the tooth fairy, you know. And children this age being sold into human trafficking, that number is 888-373-7888. Repeat, 888-373-7888. Nancy Grace Crime Stories signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.