Indian River County Commissioners To Make Proclamation: “Human Trafficking Will Not Happen On Our Watch.”

Formal declaration brought forth by Florida Faith Alliance as part of a campaign to spotlight protecting children from human trafficking.

Next Tuesday, the Indian River County Commissioners are expected to unanimously support and sign Recognizing Human Trafficking Prevention Proclamation.  The proclamation is being brought forth by Indian River County leaders of the Florida Faith Alliance, Tracy Ruleman and Michele Kollig. The lead sponsor on the Commission is Vice Chairman, Joe Flescher, District 2. 

The proclamation declares that human trafficking “is a form of modern day slavery in which human beings are controlled, abused and exploited for profit through labor and sex.” However, with great hope, it also shares, “local agencies organizations, businesses schools and leaders are connecting to bring an end to this horror of enslaving and abusing children and adults through awareness, equipping citizens to provide tips to local law enforcement.”

The United States is the number one consumer nation of child prostitution and pornography. Florida ranks third in the United States for sex trafficking and the Florida Department of Health says over half of the reported cases involve child prostitution. 

The Florida Faith Alliance (FFA) was founded in 2022 by pastor Lynn Barletta of Visionary Church in Stuart, FL. Barletta is focusing on raising awareness to human trafficking in four Treasure Coast counties, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River. “Proclamations from government officials are important. They give direction. It is up to us as citizens in these communities to protect our children and deliver those caught in hell. The average life span of a child in the slavery of sex trafficking is seven years. Most children die of either disease or violence.”

The Florida State Alliance to End Human Trafficking shows on their website that children are the primary target of traffickers. The average girl is 12-14 and boys are only 11 when they are taken by traffickers. Not only is the Florida Faith Alliance presenting this proclamation to the commissioners, the organization will have scheduled events for training and volunteers at various locations in January. (https://floridafaithalliance.org/events-calendar)

Barletta continued, “our goal is to raise awareness and give a call to action for volunteers in these four counties and then statewide. We have raised up 20 volunteers who are presenters and instructors in programs we provide.”

As a pastoral leader of Visionary Church founded in 2001, Barletta has been coming alongside people to give healing and mentorship for nearly 25 years.   Barletta is renowned Fine Arts instructor and her paintings have been presented all over the world. In working with school-aged children, she has been teaching after school art programs most of her adult life. In 2010 as CEO, Barletta launched, Visionary Centers International and Visionary School of Arts focusing on after school students. Her students have won over 600 local, national and international awards for youth leadership and fine arts. 

In 2015, Barletta set out with eight certified counseling therapists in Martin County to work with children at the juvenile justice facility, Martin Girls Academy. Incorporating the Arts, Barletta developed with her team a curriculum, Power of Art Curriculum for Abused and Trafficked Survivors. From the academy, there were 30 girls who suffered PTSD  and severe disorders from being trafficked. All 30 showed marked improvement and continued their mentoring. Today, 435 students go through the program each year.

Barletta and her diligent team have also developed awareness materials and videos at the request of Martin County Public Schools. The video series, “Don’t Take the Bait,” shares how traffickers use social media and other forms of electronic and social groups within schools to groom and recruit middle and high school children into trafficking. With guidance from Florida Faith Alliance, teens at Martin County High School and Jensen Beach High School launched anti-human trafficking clubs. Their members present in the sanctioned videos along with the Martin County Sheriff’s Department.

As recently as February 2019, human trafficking was exposed in Indian River County. As the sheriff, district 4 commissioner, Deryl Loar, led a major sting operation that shut down three massage parlors in Indian River County. In that investigation, 173 local men were charged with soliciting prostitution. Based on initial reports of suspicious activity from aware residents in Sebastian, Loar initiated an investigation in 2018 focused on three spas owned by an Orlando couple. The spa management recruited workers who ultimately lived on the premises. Clients paid up to $300 for prostitution services and his team estimated between $1.0 million to  $1.5 million annually at each location.

In 2022, a 35 year old Vero Beach man was arrested along with a 19 year old Palm Bay woman for arranging meet-ups in Brevard County with girls as young as 14 years old. Furthermore, Sheriff Flowers has also stated before the IRC Commissioners law enforcement’s work against illegal gambling operations. Last month he testified before the commission how they often attract other criminal activity like prostitution.

On January 9, 2023, the commissioners will join with Florida Faith Alliance and concerned citizens against human trafficking, declaring, “Not On Our Watch.” It’s at 9 AM and you are invited to attend.