TULSA, Okla. — Sex trafficking is a hidden crime where traffickers often find child victims on the internet. A local organization works to help victims here in Tulsa.
In a special series of stories, FOX23 Investigative Reporter Janna Clark continues to look into this tough subject.
The Demand Project started in 2013 to help girls who are victims of sex trafficking. The project not only gives them a safe place to live but helps them overcome their trauma.
Ten girls live on their campus, and Janna cannot report where exactly it is for the girls' safety.
"Now we have one of the largest campuses in the entire U.S. for kids," said Kristin Weis, the cofounder and CEO of The Demand Project.
"I heard a story about a little girl, 2 years old," Kristin said. "Her dad sexually assaulted her. He videotaped the assault, and then he put it online for people to watch. And thousands logged on."
She said it was after hearing that story, she and her husband knew they had to do something. So they started The Demand Project.
"We had a normal life prior to that. And when we heard that story, it shifted everything for us," she said.
Now, girls rescued from sex trafficking live on 54 acres of refuge — plenty of space to get outside, exercise and play sports.
There's a crisis center, school and homes where each girl has a room to call her own.
The girls follow a regular schedule: go to school, do chores and fun activities like artwork and learning to crochet.
The girls are between 11 years old and 17 years old at the campus. Kristin said they're safe at The Demand Project and are trying to deal with their past. Most of the time, the crimes against them started with a predator — a trafficker — seeking them out online.
Janna asked, "How does a 12-year-old girl find herself on the internet, and then end up getting trafficked?"
"You see all the social media sites where kids have TikToks. And they have Instagram, and they have Snapchat. And they have all these other apps on their phones where they're talking to people. It's a predator's playground," Kristin explained.
She continued, "There's a lot of luring and grooming, and it takes a lot of patience and time. And they have it."
It's not just an online crime. Kristin described a story that happened to one of the girls at a Tulsa high school.
"She met a guy, and he was building a crew of young girls out of the school," she said. "He was a senior, 19 years old, staying in school to build his group of kids. He had an apartment and a bar downtown Tulsa, where he could bring the kids to to sell them. So they would go to school in the day, they would be sold in the late afternoon, evening. And then they would go home."
Janna said, "These kids have dealt with trauma. I can imagine it's incredibly difficult."
"Oh, my goodness, the unwinding. The undoing of trauma is huge," Kristin said. "What we have to do every single day to help these kids is unbelievable."
It's a two year program, and Kristin said the healing really gets started around six months in.
"I'd say about six months in, things get real," she explained. "Now they're really starting to show the trauma. We're starting to get down to the truth of what's happened."
She continued, "We do individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy ... equine therapy, art therapy and music therapy. Like there's not enough therapy for these kids with everything that they've gone through."
Kristin also said the goal is to restore the girls.
"What is your hope for these girls?" Janna asked.
"My hope ... I don't want us to force our expectations on kids that have only had expectations. We can only plant the seeds. And then from there, it's their choices that determine what their future is going to be," she explained.
Trafficking happens here in Tulsa and abroad. Janna just went with a team of Tulsans to help girls at a similar campus for girls, but it's halfway across the world in the Philippines. She will take viewers on that journey starting Thursday.
