North Carolina may not be the first place that comes to mind when it comes to sex trafficking, but Calyn Ranieri, a student in Wilmington, knows from experience that the danger exists.

Ranieri hopped into a cab with a friend after enjoying a long night of amusement. Ranieri and her friend decided to take a cab after having a few drinks and partying. 

As they entered the hot-pink minivan, Ranieri realized it had no logo and fear started to settle in. The driver started out making small talk, but his comments fed Ranieri’s fears. 

“If you guys are looking to make extra money I could show you how,” the driver said, Ranieri recalled. “Sometimes you don’t have to take your pants off, you can make small conversation.”

Fortunately, the partygoers were dropped off safely, but Ranieri’s story has made a significant change in her view on safety procedures and precautions.

Sometimes girls as young as 12 and 14 years old are swept away in transportation that is presumed to be safe. For places like the Port City area, it’s easy to swindle innocent young women and girls.

In the Wilmington area, the number of persons who are affected by sex trafficking has been growing significantly; however, community members are fighting to increase awareness and help stop sex trafficking in its footsteps.

“Most of us think sex trafficking involves people in foreign countries like Asia or Thailand, but they are unaware it happens right here, right here under our noses,” said Amy Schlag, the LGBTQIA Program Coordinator at UNC Wilmington.

“It isn’t really foreigners being trafficked but it’s citizens,” said Kate Chamberlain, the Criminal Intelligence Analyst in the Wilmington, NC Police Department and an adjunct faculty in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at UNCW. “It’s domestic trafficking.”

Some people argue that Wilmington, NC wouldn’t really be the easiest place to get by with victims. Alex Gibson, a senior at UNCW, said there is a possibility it’s easy to travel through Wilmington, because “the route they take once they find people is I-95, and if they have a small car they can get by without being checked.”

Chamberlain said girls picked up in Wilmington are trafficked to states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia and Virginia. 

U.S. law enforcement agencies have witnessed an increase in the number of children exposed to sexual exploitation since the 1990’s, according to the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction.

 “Human trafficking is happening everywhere in the United States, not just Wilmington,” said Gloria Hegarty, a counselor of the Coastal Horizons Center. “But Wilmington is a perfect location for a crime like this simply because of our location. It’s close to I-95, I-40, and it also has ports.”

There is anywhere between 600,000 to 800,000 people trafficked every year and they are made victims by coercion or fraud, Hegarty said.

“There are victim services here in Wilmington that are faith-based like the Center of Redemption, there are churches in the area that are also involved, as well as our district attorney, who is very experienced in prosecuting traffickers and works very hard to get the word out,” said Chamberlain.

Organizations at UNCW, as well as off-campus organizations, are now providing programs on campus during this upcoming month to support awareness and provide more information on this issue.