Grooming in Suburbia

Grooming of girls (and boys) and young women from seemingly protected and immune suburban neighborhoods is one of the most lucrative methodologies used by sex traffickers.

In her book, The Slave Across the Street, Teresa Flores’ describes the circumstances surrounding her enslavement to include, how those who exploited her targeted, engaged, compromised and enslaved her for a period of two years, all while she was still living at home in an upscale suburban Michigan environment.

In his book, Off the Street, former Las Vegas Police Detective, Christopher Baughman successfully demonstrates how trust and respect are the ultimate weapons which can pierce through the criminal’s control over their victims, their families and their friends.

In the fall of 2016, a suburban Chicago family saw first hand the results of a grooming operation which successfully entrapped their 20-something daughter. The miscreant, located in Philadelphia, met the young-lady online, and over the course of months, came and visited the victim at her residence a number of times, prior to inviting her to visit with him in Philadelphia. She abruptly departed her home one day, leaving behind with her parents her two small children. She visited with the trafficker and returned home after an eight-day visit.

Shortly after having returned home, she departed again. This time, she was trapped. Her attempts to extract herself were met with threats to harm her family, including her two young children. The victim, as her mother described, had “things happened to her that should never happen to any woman.”

The entire report on the sex trafficking in the Chicago suburbs can be read at, Suburban Family Shares Their Story on Sex Trafficking in Hopes of Warning Others | NBC Chicago or viewed below.