Victim Specialists Play Key Role in Helping
Trafficking Victims Recover
When a 14-year-old girl ran away from her Virginia home after a family
conflict in 2018, law enforcement feared she could be vulnerable.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/national-slavery-and-human-
trafficking-prevention-month-011121
Agents from the FBI’s
Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force
found the teenager at a known brothel in Maryland. After investigators
built trust with her, she told them she had met Daniel Palacios
Rodriguez while trying to survive on the streets. Rodriguez groomed
her for prostitution. He slowly introduced her into sexual exploitation,
and she was eventually trafficked by several people along the
East Coast. She often stayed for about a week in different hotels or
apartments that were used for trafficking.
Rodriguez referred the teen to a Maryland-based trafficker,
Alexandra Guzman-Beato. Guzman-Beato trafficked numerous
girls and women, including some who were brought in from
overseas.
The traffickers advertised online and also used an elaborate
word-of-mouth network of customers to avoid law enforcement.
“Through further investigation, we discovered there was a much larger
network involved, where girls and women would come in from overseas
or from other states to be exploited,” said FBI Washington Field Office
Special Agent Jeremy Obie, who investigated this case as part of the
task force. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and various police
departments from Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and
Washington, D.C., worked closely with the FBI on the investigation.
Victim statements, combined with search warrants and electronic
evidence, helped bring down the ring of six traffickers. The additional
four traffickers played other roles, such as leasing apartments used for
trafficking, recruiting girls and women, transportation, security, and
collecting money.
Both Rodriguez and Guzman-Beato were convicted of sex trafficking
a minor and sentenced to 16 years in prison last July. The four others
involved also received sentences ranging from 6 ½ years to 15 ½ years.
These types of cases require patient rapport-building with traumatized
victims, as well as traditional investigative work such as search warrants,
surveillance, data analysis, and coordination of multiple agencies.
“When you’ve met these victims and have seen what has happened to
them, you don’t want to let them down,” Obie said. “We work day and
night on these types of cases, and we’re very passionate about protecting
those who cannot protect themselves: society’s innocent—our children.”
Although January is when the country marks National Slavery and Human
Trafficking Prevention Month, the FBI and our partners work to ferret out
and arrest human traffickers every day. And while putting a stop to
trafficking is key, the FBI also works to help victims get the services they
need to recover.
And that’s exactly what happened in the case of the missing Virginia girl.
Victim specialists from multiple partner agencies offered the girl therapy
and other services to help her recover and move forward in life. She’s
even chosen to remain in contact with the FBI, two years after she was
rescued in January 2019.
“It’s definitely rewarding to see a good outcome and that you’ve helped
change the whole dynamic of a child’s life. The victim sill contacts me to
this day, keeping me updated on her life and how she’s doing,” Obie said.
“She’s back on her feet, and she is on her way to a new beginning with a
more positive outlook toward life.”
