“When I was 14 years old,” begins actor and director Anthony Edwards in an article for the New York Center for Children, “my mother opened the door for me to answer honestly about the rumors she had heard about Gary Goddard – who was my mentor, teacher and friend – being a pedophile.”

He goes on to illustrate the control Goddard kept on him and other young victims, as well as the therapy and connections with other abuse victims which eventually helped him move forward through his shame and into healing.

Edwards shared his story of surviving sexual abuse as a child during the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s (BCA) Internet Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Conference last month. The conference is held for law enforcement agencies, child protection workers, victim service providers and prosecutors who work on child sexual exploitation and human trafficking cases. 

He and other courageous victim survivors who share their stories of sexual abuse, trafficking or other predatory crimes help enforcement and response practitioners better understand the victim experience and their needs.

In Minnesota, survivors of these crimes are most often female, however, it’s important to know boys and men are also victimized.

Most of the time, victim-survivors aren’t threatened with a weapon like a gun or knife. Instead, it happens through fraud or coercion – threats to harm a loved one, or promises of escape from a bad situation or to compensate for debts. In Edwards’ case, it was the threat of being “banished” from the only world he knew at the time.

To combat these issues, the BCA leads two statewide task forces: the Minnesota Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Both conduct proactive and reactive investigations of predatory crimes.

The BCA works in partnership with other criminal justice agencies and victim-survivor service providers to prevent, provide education about and conduct investigations into these crimes. This includes child exploitation, sex trafficking and labor trafficking. In fact, the BCA worked in partnership with The Advocates for Human Rights and the Minn. Dept. of Health to develop first-of-its-kind protocols for responding to labor trafficking-related crimes.

But we can’t solve this problem alone.

• If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of being trafficked, call 911.
• To report a suspected human trafficking or child exploitation situation, call the BCA at 1-877-996-6222 or email bca.tips@state.mn.us. 
• Another option for reporting suspected human trafficking is the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. The BCA is also the state clearinghouse for tips to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
• Report suspected online exploitation involving children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline or call 1-800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678). You can also contact your local law enforcement agency or contact the BCA at 651-793-7000.
• The BCA has compiled a list of resources available for victim survivors of predatory crimes on its website.

“I did not go from being a victim to a survivor alone,” concludes Edwards. “No one does. I had to ask for help, and I am so grateful that I did.”

 

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