District attorney battles human trafficking

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan shared human trafficking statistics, such as the fact that 90 percent of 20 area high schools studied had documented cases of the crime, during a town hall forum in Ramona on Saturday

Also at the forum, Dan Summers announced that Ramona Tea’d has a new name — American Liberty Forum of Ramona.

Summers, the organization’s chair, said a majority of the group’s members are politicly savvy seniors, but there’s a shortage of members from the younger generation.

“Who we need to be preaching to is the millennials, that’s who we need to reach,” Summers said. “But as soon as I use the words Tea Party with any young group, they selectively turn me off.”

Summers said he believes the Tea Party, which was formed in 2009 to oppose the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, was a force to be reckoned with and therefore was perceived as threatening. The goals of the party, named an acronym for taxed enough already, were largely accomplished with resistance to socialized medicine and Republican dominance of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, he said.

Summers said a Ramona Tea’d steering committee of 14 members unanimously agreed to rename the organization American Liberty Forum of Ramona in hopes of attracting a broader membership who could be educated on current issues at the informational forums. He announced the name at the 9-year-old group’s 99th town hall forum. The change will occur with a rebranding that includes a new website and pamphlet.

Stephan brings 28 years of experience as the county’s deputy district attorney to her role as district attorney. She leads the second largest DA’s office in California and manages a professional staff of more than 1,000 employees.

While introducing Stephan to the roughly 50 forum attendees, Summers noted her experience as a trial prosecutor who tried more than 100 jury trials, including cases related to homicides, sexually violent predators, child molestation, sexual assault, school shooting and human trafficking.

The latter is among three risk areas Stephan said the DA’s office focuses on: human trafficking, opioid use/smuggling, and elder abuse.

“Public safety is my passion and my profession,” said Stephan, who has served as chair of the county of San Diego Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Advisory Council. “I’m fighting the good fight to try to protect our community.”

The District Attorney’s Office works with a variety of law enforcement such as the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, Department of Justice, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to tackle mostly felony crimes such as murders, rapes, robberies, domestic violence and elder abuse cases, driving under the influence-related cases and white collar crimes. It also handles some misdemeanor cases outside the city of San Diego.

Stephan said human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the nation, ranking behind drug sales in volume but before illegal gun sales.

Sex trafficking targets teenagers who are being recruited for prostitution with promises of love, gifts and sometimes jobs such as modeling. The annual $810 million trafficking industry draws in girls whose average age is just over 16 and 80 percent of whom are American. Many are controlled by gang members, particularly “Romeos” who pose as an older boyfriend. They appeal to the victims by offering material things or addictive drugs, and oftentimes the girls agree to run away with them. But, Stephan said, later the Romeos gain control of the girls and by then the victims have lost contact with their friends, family and schools.

Stephan shared a story of a wealthy father whose daughter fell into the trap of dating an older boyfriend and left home with him at age 18. Stephan said the trafficker had told the girl all the right lines and said her family was controlling. The father eventually discovered his daughter being advertised online for sex, rescued her and now donates to causes to help victims find a safe place to stay, get their high school diploma or seek trauma care.

“Traffickers will change their style,” said Stephan, who learned more about trafficking strategies from University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University studies of traffickers in custody. “In addition to prosecution, we need early prevention and education in schools.”

Stephan’s office is initiating a program to educate school children on how to recognize the signs of human sex trafficking. If funding becomes available, the program could be rolled out in schools this coming year, she said.

When a forum attendee asked about the involvement of boys in human trafficking, Stephan said it’s harder to detect in boys because it’s usually a more private setting than hotels. Either an older male offers runaways a place to sleep and draws them into pornography or a stepparent uses a boy for drug sales.

A local hospital nurse asked what she can do if she suspects a patient is a victim. Stephan suggested she query the patient while they’re alone to make sure the victim feels safe and understands there are people available to help. She said to offer an assistance hotline number, 888-373-7888.

Stephan said other protections are being implemented for seniors who are victims of elder abuse with a $700,000 grant for the county’s Adult Protective Services. With a 37 percent increase in crimes against seniors in the county, Stephan said law enforcement officers are being trained to be on the lookout and ask more questions when they suspect elder abuse.

She suggested family members be more careful about conducting background checks of elder caregivers, particularly if the senior has Alzheimer’s disease.

“Meth addicts will try to get a job as a caretaker because then they can rip them off, manipulate their checkbook,” she said.

On the opioid front, Stephan said a bill is being proposed to put warning labels on potentially addictive prescription medication and limit the doses. Efforts are also underway to confiscate drugs and drug-related money to the detriment of cartels selling oxycodone, fentanyl and other drugs.

“We need to build a society that is not seeking opiates,” she said.

The next American Liberty Forum of Ramona presentation will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, in Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main St. Doors open at 11 a.m. and a video starts at 11:30 a.m.

Evelyn Markus will share the “Never Again Is Now” film she produced, which documents the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Markus was raised in Holland by parents who witnessed the anti-Jewish violence of the 1940s and survived the Holocaust. When Markus saw signs of the same disturbing trends returning to the Netherlands, she left the land her family called home for centuries.