Restoration Magazine

 My story is one of many of those involved in a sex traffic case. December 4, 2016, my daughter left Alakanuk and traveled to Anchorage, Alaska. She texted me throughout the first month. She said she was having a medical check-up. I thought she had returned home and old her to take it easy for a while. I didn’t think to much about it until my son showed me a message from my daughter that she was still in Anchorage. I started getting text messages telling me they had seen my daughter drunk, smelly, with bruise marks on her arms. Then suddenly she disappeared. No phone calls. Her bank statements came with zero balances. No Facebook posts.

I called the Anchorage Police Department concerned about my daughter. The dispatcher told me to call hospitals, shelters, drug enforcement, and the morgue. I looked up her Facebook portfolio and it showed her working as a secretary for Alaska Document Preparation Court Reporting Services, Inc. She didn’t graduate from high school. I found out that she had been lured into Anchorage through the Internet. It never entered my mind that the media could be used to lure women into sex trafficking.

My daughter was and still is a victim of sex trafficked women. I reported it to the authorities and received no help. I told them the address, location, and names of her traffickers. The Anchorage Police Department would not listen to me until I got my two white friends to make a call for me. I contacted Priceless Alaska but they would not help me unless a State Trooper investigates and makes a referral to their organization. No one would help me. I also called the FBI, three times, and they did not respond. Through, my 2 white friends, I reported her missing. No one had seen her anywhere for until June 15, 2016. My daughter was held, by traffickers, at Eagle River, Alaska, for 4 months.

People sent their prayers and told me to sit tight. But I told them I would not be quiet, I would text messages on Facebook and that I would keep informing the public about her status. I would not quit looking for her. I wanted to keep her alive as long as I could by media coverage of her abduction. She was found June 15, 2016. She didn't return home until her pimp was jailed. October 27, 2016, she returned home. Her pimp was released November 15, 2016. She disappeared December 1, 2016. She is back with her pimp. 

I read a story of a young Native girl, who was abducted. Sexually assaulted then dragged thru the street, with a car. Dumped on the side of the road. She crawled with her hands, up to the road where she died. Her mother didn’t have access to the right resources
to look for her. I have read and heard stories of horrific abuse of women. Who will look for women that are homeless and always looking for shelter and security?

Although, this is not a happy ending, I want to increase awareness about the silent problem of sex trafficking in Alaska. I want to thank Shirley Moses of the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center for her help. When no one would listen she did. And also the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center for their support.

Recommendations of the Village of Alakanuk to address the sex trafficking of Alaska Native women:

• Public awareness materials should be posted at the hospital and other places for victims to call.
• Fund and develop Alaska Native advocacy programs for Native women because many Native women do not trust non-Natives organizations because of our bad experiences with non-Natives
• Train the State Troopers, police, and FBI to better respond to Native women and girls being trafficked.
• Most important we need a system like the Amber Alert for Alaska Native women when our daughters, women, and children are trafficked.
• We also need victim services programs and resources to assist those who are trafficked, using our Native culture for treatment, education, job placement and shelter.
• The federal and state government should set aside an equitable amount of resources for Alaska Native tribes to develop, implement, and use culturally relevant solutions to immediately address the health safety and welfare of Alaska Native women.