海角大神

Ranked , according to the聽2010 US Census, South Dakota seems an unlikely hub for sex trafficking, which is why the number of recent trafficking cases in this rural state came as such a surprise to state law enforcement.聽

鈥淲e can no longer say ,鈥� Jenise Pischel, program coordinator at Our Home Inc., a non-profit that helps trafficked girls, told the Associated Press. 鈥淚t鈥檚 happening in the quietest of places across our nation, not just here.鈥�

After investigating suspicious ads on the Web, state officials asked for federal resources and began educating locals, such as motel and hotel workers, on the typical characteristics of trafficked women. And as a result, federal law enforcement has pursued more than 50 sex trafficking cases in the state and won dozens of convictions in the recent years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just a friendly state and I think traffickers see this as a trusting place and think 鈥楾hey鈥檙e never going to catch me. They鈥檙e not so bright,鈥欌�� Pischel added. 鈥淲ell, we seem to be catching an awful lot of them.鈥�

Although South Dakota鈥檚 remoteness once made it seem disconnected from issues such as sex trafficking, experts say it is likely the same reason traffickers have found success in the rural state. Brendan Johnson, a former US attorney, says the traffickers probably moved to South Dakota 鈥渢o be a bigger fish in a smaller pond,鈥� so they could have easy trafficking access to Midwest states with less competition.

South Dakota also ranks third for proportion of Native Americans in its population, with 8.5 percent of the state鈥檚 population identifying as "American Indian." And one in eight South Dakotans lives below the poverty level 鈥� two other factors that some experts say offer an explanation as to the high sex trafficking rates.聽

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got ,鈥� Sarah Deer, a law professor at William Mitchell College in Minnesota and an expert on domestic violence in Native American communities, told the Associated Press. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got poverty, you have high, high rates of sexual abuse, which is often a precursor to prostitution and you have just a sense of desperation on the reservation in terms of day-to-day life.鈥�

Deer says sex traffickers tend to find young Native American runaways with drug or alcohol addictions, because they are often susceptible to traffickers鈥� offers. And while trafficking is 鈥渘ot a new crime鈥� in the state, the recent state-federal partnership has helped give the issue 鈥渘ew recognition.鈥�

But local communities in South Dakota did not stop once the problem had been identified. Several organizations have stepped up and developed programs that help victims after their abuser has been captured by authorities.

The state鈥檚 Junior League has lectured on trafficking at schools, financed billboard ads, and sponsored educational ads. Wiconi Wawokiya, an organization committed to ending domestic violence on reservation communities, in an old motel, a place where victims can receive counseling, shelter, and emotional support once their abuser has been caught.

鈥淲e鈥檙e sending the message to the men who are doing this: 鈥楧on鈥檛 come to our state. Drive on,'鈥� Kevin Koliner, a federal prosecutor, told the Associated Press. Koliner helped to prosecute Mohammed Sharif Alaboudi, a South Dakotan convicted of sex trafficker who is now serving four life terms in prison.聽

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.聽