CARTERVILLE, IL (WSIL) -- If you think there's no human trafficking in Southern Illinois, think again.
"This is happening in southern Illinois," said SIU professor Shelly Page. "Human trafficking happens right here in our communities."
Page Specializes in dealing with human trafficking and she was on hand Wednesday at John A. Logan to speak to a packed Crisp Conference room.
"There's a lot of money to be made, on victims," said Page, "and unfortunately, we live in a society where people are willing to exploit one another for those reasons."
And don't think Human Trafficking only happens in the larger cities like Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, or even St. Louis, Page says a lot of times it's right under our noses.
"There are victims in, our community, most victims are being victimized by people they know, people they trust, and people they love," said Page.
And that's seen far too often by Sara McHargue, the director of victim Services with Restoration 61.
"it is just more widespread of a problem in southern Illinois than people realize because it looks different," McHargue said.
Restoration 61 is an Illinois-based group that provides advocacy services to victims of trafficking and exploitation. McHargue says trafficking comes in other forms than just open prostitution.
"We are seeing trafficking and exploitation in the foster care system," McHargue said. "We're seeing that happen out of hotels and housing projects online is a very big thing down here."
Page says predators will use social media to gain trust and lure unsuspecting victims into trafficking rings and that parents need to remain vigilant with what their kids are doing.
"Human trafficking thrives in silence, in darkness, and secrecy," said Page. "And when we have a group of people, a community that does not believe it is happening in that community, predators will take advantage of that."
And one of the fastest ways a trafficker can do this is by exploiting people on the internet.
"I'm gonna find social media, and I'm gonna let whoever's on those websites know I'm coming through with my girls," said Page. "I'm posting pictures, I'm giving descriptions, I'm letting you know the price, I'm letting you know the dates. We're gonna be in town. And there are Johns who take advantage of those girls coming through towns."
Page says these things aren't happening in just your bigger cities, but in towns like Marion, Carbondale, and throughout Southern Illinois.
"I always suspected that sex trafficking was more of a big thing in our area than people than people suspected, but I didn't know how prevalent it really was," said John A. Logan student, Elizabeth Randall.
"I have previous knowledge on human sex trafficking and I'm really glad that we had a speaker come and share this information," said JALC student Anastasia Moroz.
So what needs to be done to address this issue?
"It's educating, making people in southern Illinois aware that a, it's happening here. It is very real," said McHargue.
