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Man charged with trafficking woman at Madison Heights hotel
On Wednesday, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office charged 33-year-old Gerod Remond Penick with several felonies, including human trafficking and prostitution, after police say he held a woman at a motel, assaulted her, and forced her to engage in sexual acts with himself and other men against her will.
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Human trafficking is much closer than we think and that’s the message from one Metro Detroit survivor advocate.
Big picture view:
FOX 2 did some research trying to see how many cases of human trafficking there have been lately in Metro Detroit.
There have been five since March, with three alone in Oakland County.
Survivor advocate Jojo Dries says the best thing you can do is pay attention to the signs.
"Human trafficking is a very common instance," said Dries. "It doesn’t matter your socio-economic level, or where you are, or what type of family you come from, or what your religion is, or what your gender is; it affects all of us."
The latest case of human trafficking happened in Madison Heights.
On Wednesday, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office charged 33-year-old Gerod Remond Penick with several felonies, including human trafficking and prostitution, after police say he held a woman at a motel, assaulted her, and forced her to engage in sexual acts with himself and other men against her will.
What you can do:
Dries runs On the Wings of Angels, a nonprofit that helps survivors of domestic abuse get back on their feet. But she says a lot of her survivors have experienced human trafficking.
"In domestic violence, one in every four women and one in every seven men has reported receiving some sort of domestic violence. In human trafficking, you’re seeing one out of every five women and two out of every eight men," she said.
She says there are signs people can look out for when they think it's happening in their area.
"Some of the things I tell people when you’re looking at human trafficking are, for example, is this person in control of their finances? That’s one of the biggest red flags," said Dries.
Are they in control of their credit cards? Do they know what’s in their bank account? Also, are there any sudden changes in behavior?
"They’re going out all the time with you or a group of friends, and suddenly they’re not," Dries answered. "That’s a big behavior change. Emotional violence is a big one when it comes to human trafficking. Another thing, it could be the high school kid in your neighborhood that seems lonely, kind of walking around without any friends. It might not just be that they’re a lonely person. They might be being sheltered and not allowed to face any outside contact."
Ultimately, she says, if you see something, give On the Wings of Angels or other organizations a call.
"For us, we get a lot of calls from people who are friends of abuse survivors or friends of someone being human trafficked," she said. "Then we reach out or figure out a way to serve them."
If you witness a crime, report it.
A full, detailed list of what to do can be viewed below:
The Source: FOX 2 talked with advocate Jojo Dries and used information from previous reporting.