'This Is Real': Human Trafficking Survivor Shares Story Ahead Of Super Bowl, As Hotels Increase Training
TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa is less than a month out from the Super Bowl, a highlight for fans and a dark draw for human sex trafficking.
On Monday, Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Attorney General Ashley Moody joined hotel industry leaders and non-profits working to fight human trafficking, to outline the efforts leading up to the Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
The American Hotel & Lodging Foundation (AHLA Foundation), in partnership with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association (FRLA), announced the launch of its “No Room for Trafficking” program, building upon the yearly training already taking place for thousands of hotel employees on how to identify and stop human trafficking.
Back-to-back Super Bowls in Florida has presented an opportunity to showcase the Sunshine State. But if you look closely, beyond the flash and fans, Moody warned the spotlight comes with responsibility.
“It also brings the underside of the criminal world, and that is those that are using a game, an entertaining event, to increase their sales of our most vulnerable,” Moody said of human trafficking.
At Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Moody said law enforcement conduced 47 human trafficking arrests and recovered 22 victims, including four girls under the age of 18.
