I Team

The Daughter Trade

An ABC7 I-Team Investigation

ByChuck Goudie and Barb Markoff WLS logo

Friday, September 29, 2017

"Jane" tells the I-Team how she was recruited into the trade, abused by her trafficker, eventually escaped from him and then testified against him in court.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Across the city and suburbs girls between the ages of 12 and 15 are being forced into a brutal lifestyle they have trouble escaping. Sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business and young girls are the product. FBI officials say it is the fastest growing crime in America and no one is immune.

Across the city and suburbs girls between the ages of 12 and 15 are being forced into a brutal lifestyle they have trouble escaping.

The number of trafficking victims in the United States is not known, but advocate groups estimate the total number reaches into the hundreds of thousands.

Advocates say there are warning signs to help identify victims of sex trafficking.

Authorities say the cycle of sex trafficking is difficult to break.

This map shows potential trafficking cases from 2015 tracked by Polaris and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. This is not intended to represent the entire scope of the trafficking problem, but to show trends.