WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania ranks ninth nationally in the number of human trafficking cases reported, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region is designated a hot spot for human trafficking, according to Tammi Burke, chief program officer at the Victims Resource Center, and Mackenzie Jennings, the agency’s human trafficking advocate.
Burke and Jennings say that human trafficking is modern-day slavery.
“It’s happening not only across the country and across the world, but right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” they said.
And the numbers are growing. Burke and Jennings said they have gotten better at identifying victims, and their goal is to make the general public more aware of the severity of the problem so that they can also help identify victims.
Burke and Jennings are both members of the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking — a dedicated group of professionals whose primary mission is to raise awareness of the severity of the problem in the region.
Burke and Jennings said human trafficking is a crime in which people profit from the exploitation of others. According to the law, human trafficking is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel someone to provide labor or sexual acts in exchange for something of value, which may include money, food, shelter or drugs.
However, if the victim is a minor, force, fraud, or coercion is not required for the act to be considered human trafficking. Human trafficking can also occur without a person being relocated from one place to another.
“We’ve been working on this issue for a long time, but it is more prevalent now than ever before,” Burke said.
Jennings said the Task Force has gotten much better at identifying victims.
“In 2023, we identified 39 victims,” Jennings said. “In 2024, we nearly doubled that — identifying 69 victims.”
But both say that the number is just the tip of the iceberg. They said many victims are reluctant to seek or accept help — mostly out of fear. And they said the victims have become so dependent on their traffickers that they just remain under their control.
Burke and Jennings said they are constantly reaching out to homeless shelters, drug and alcohol treatment centers, mental health agencies and social services agencies to try to identify victims to offer them help.
They said a recent two-year grant from the AllOne Foundation has helped in the battle against human trafficking.
“This area has always experienced human trafficking, but recently we have been able to educate more about what it actually is,” Jennings said. “That’s why additional resources that have become available are so critical.”
Burke and Jennings said they work constantly with the Pennsylvania State Police, but investigations can take time to complete.
“We try to get victims to a safe place, but there often are layers and layers of issues, like violence, sexual abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and drug addiction,” Jennings said. “We have to fund services for all of those layers and also find a safe place for them to go.”
Meanwhile, Burke and Jennings said there is no shelter in Luzerne County that would be a safe haven for victims of human trafficking.
“And there are so many traffickers out there,” Burke said. “Understand that the victims mean big money for the traffickers, so when we take one away, they are upset.”
Burke and Jennings said the average victim makes $125,000 per year for their trafficker and some traffickers have multiple victims working for them.
“Many of the traffickers are millionaires,” they said. “When you take away a victim, you take away a lot of money from the trafficker.”
Burke and Jennings said they have experienced some success stories, but not as many as they would like to see.
“Some do survive — they even thrive,” Burke said. “This is a tough job, but it can be very rewarding — it’s definitely worth the effort.”
Burke and Jennings said they want to change the public’s perception of human trafficking — but first, they want everyone to know just how prevalent the problem is.
“People can be very judgemental — they blame the victims, and they close their eyes and minds,” Burke said. “The majority of our society sees it as an addiction and sex work. Believe me, these victims are not doing what they want to do — somebody is in control of them constantly.”
Burke and Jennings also noted that many victims of human trafficking often don’t see themselves as victims — they said many victims think they are in a relationship with that person, and many have an addiction.
“Many victims feel that they owe the trafficker because they provide them with a warm place, food and drugs,” Burke said. “They don’t understand the difference between consent and cooperation. If you ask a victim if this is what they wanted to do, they will tell you no.”
Burke and Jennings said victims also suffer consequences with their families.
“They are often cut off from their families,” Jennings said. “So they do what they have to do to get what they need.”
Jennings and Burke said many traffickers work together — they have their own victims, but also sell victims to one another. Traffickers throughout Luzerne County could have 2 victims or as many as 20.
“They are in our hotels, in homes, massage parlors, everywhere,” Burke said.
WBRE Sunday Newsmakers to discuss human trafficking
Human trafficking will be the topic of this Sunday’s (Jan. 12) Newsmakers program. Jayne Ann Bugda and Andy Mehalshick host the monthly Public Affairs Program.
Burke and Jennings will be their guests.
They will have a frank discussion about the Task Force’s work to bring awareness to Human Trafficking in our communities. Burke and Jennings will also provide information on how to recognize and report trafficking and the resources available for victims.
Newsmakers will air at 7:30 a.m. on WYOU, and 11:30 a.m. on WBRE Sunday, Jan. 12.
About human trafficking
Burke and Jennings provided information about human trafficking:
• There are several types of human trafficking — sex, forced labor, forced child labor, slavery, illegal organ donation.
• Trafficking occurs in our hotels, restaurants, homes, massage parlors, halfway houses and prisons/jails.
• Pennsylvania ranks number nine in the U.S. There are several hotspots in Pennsylvania — Wilkes Barre, Scranton, the Poconos and Bloomsburg rank in the top 10. (Bloomsburg ranks #3).
• The organization is continually learning more about identifying and providing services to victims of trafficking. They have seen an almost 50% increase in numbers from 2023 to 2024 and continue to identify victims who request services every day.
• Traffickers use recruiting methods often through social media and begin to groom their victims prior to exploiting them. Traffickers also control victims through social media.
• Trafficking happens due to the financial gain traffickers have from selling victims. Sex trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry and traffickers can sell their victims repeatedly, unlike other means of criminal activity like drugs and guns.
• Victims of sex trafficking often come from a history of child sexual abuse (90%), victims of domestic violence, homelessness, drug addiction, mental health, the foster care system, juvenile justice system, runaways, becoming a member of a gang and being impoverished.
• Victims are often incarcerated due to crimes that are committed as a result of being trafficked. Some examples may be drug use or possession, retail theft, prostitution and selling drugs. These crimes are often not committed of free will, and the victim will face harsh consequences from the trafficker if they do not commit the crime that results in them being arrested and the trafficker being free.
• Traffickers exploit the vulnerabilities of victims. Victims may be lacking love, support, a home to live in, food, their drug or alcohol of choice, and maybe expensive things they have never had before. The trafficker may make them believe that they are going to have a career through acting, singing or modeling, but instead, they are exploited for commercial sex.
• Victims are not able to leave, often due to fear, they believe they are in love and in a relationship with the trafficker, they are in addiction, they may be deported, they believe they “owe” the trafficker a debt, they are dependent on the life/game, they feeling shame/guilt, and they do not have the emotional and financial support to survive outside of the life.
• Victims may not report the sex trafficking because they are unable to self-identify as trafficking victims, they may be experiencing a form of Stockholm Syndrome, they have self-guilt or feel that they should blame themselves or they are afraid of law enforcement. Victims are also threatened by traffickers that they will hurt their family or the victim if they try to leave.
• Victims Resource Center is able to provide comprehensive services to victims of sex trafficking. They do not “rescue” or “save” victims, but instead provide the support and resources necessary for them to leave the life and recover.
• The largest barrier the organization faces is society’s lack of understanding of what trafficking truly looks like. Many believe it is not happening in their community. Victims are often viewed as drug addicts or sex workers when the reality is they are being exploited and forced to be repeatedly sexually assaulted for the trafficker’s own personal gain. The more society understands about trafficking, the more effective prevention and intervention efforts will be for victim services and law enforcement.
District Attorney: ‘Human trafficking a scourge to our area’
Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce says the human trafficking problem is not just an extraterritorial issue, but one that is a scourge on our own area.
Sanguedolce said members of law enforcement nationwide are only beginning to understand how to identify victims and rescue them, not only from traffickers, but often from themselves.
“For example, historically, when encountering or combating prostitution, police often correctly believed the act of exchanging sex for money was voluntary,” Sanguedolce said. “Moreover, if the perpetrator did not make any claim of duress or seek help immediately when in the presence of police who could save them, those suspicions of voluntariness were all but substantiated.”
Unlike trafficking in controlled substances, which can only be sold one time for profit and then the product must be replenished, Sanguedolce said a victim of human trafficking is used sometimes a dozen or more times per day every day under a constant demand to produce more profit. Often, Sanguedolce said, none of the money received from the trafficking ever goes to the victim.
“As we dissect the complexities of the human trafficking conundrum, we are discovering that the human trafficking [victims] are suffering psychological and physical abuse so severe that they are incapable of seeking help,” Sanguedolce said. “They frequently were taken or sold from situations of family abuse where they were made to feel worthless, insignificant and hopeless. Their traffickers further threaten that their victims’ siblings, children or parents will be taken, tortured, or killed if they do not comply with the demands of their oppressors. Suffering from a paralyzing fear of even being seen speaking to someone outside their circle renders them incapable of revealing their situation to police. As such, it takes months and months of work with victims’ advocates to provide resources to victims of human trafficking to assist in enabling them to find safety.”
How to report human trafficking or seek help
Sanguedolce said if anyone has information about human trafficking in our area, please call 911 to be directed to the appropriate agency.
Additionally, if you are a victim seeking help or suspect someone is a victim, you can text “Help” to 233733 or call 1-888-373-7888 to be put in touch with the Northeast Pennsylvania Task Force Against Human Trafficking, who are experienced at assisting, reporting on, and finding resources for victims.
You can also contact the Pennsylvania State Police Human Trafficking Tipline at 888-292-1919 or tips@pa.gov.
Download and use the See Something Send Something app (See Send) on iOS or Android.
Human-trafficking awareness in Pennsylvania
January is Human-trafficking Awareness Month. 1,235 human-trafficking offenses were filed on 366 cases over the past five years.
Human trafficking is a type of human rights abuse where people profit from the exploitation of others — mainly using force, fraud or coercion to manipulate victims into engaging in sex acts or labor/services in exchange for something of value.