Convicted sex traffickers Ghislaine Maxwell and R. Kelly were both sentenced this week to decades in prison. Maxwell preyed on vulnerable girls, provided financial support and gifts, and then coerced them into sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein. During his decades of predation, Kelly exploited his music celebrity to lure his victims from among adoring fans and aspiring musicians.
“Their high-profile celebrity cases and onetime lavish lifestyles might make their cases seem unique, but Maxwell and Kelly have the same modus operandi as every other sex trafficker we see,” says Amanda Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Baltimore-based organization TurnAround Inc., and a former prosecutor. “Traffickers identify a person with a need, start to fill it, and then isolate their victims from other ways of meeting that need. That’s exactly what Maxwell and Kelly did. They used their wealth and celebrity to lure the girls they abused. Then they used emotional and physical isolation to gain and maintain control over them.”
These two cases are not unique, regardless of their notoriety and the glamourous veneer of their predators. In 2020, there were 10,836 cases of sex trafficking around the country, according to Polaris, the organization that runs the national trafficking helpline. First-time trafficking victims are most commonly 14- to 16-years-old, as were some of those who accused Maxwell and Kelly. Trafficking is the second highest grossing criminal enterprise in the country and thrives in places where economically affluent neighborhoods abut economically distressed neighborhoods, like in Baltimore.
“Traffickers are master manipulators,” says Alexandra VanDress, TurnAround’s Regional Navigator, who is the agency’s first point of contact for child sex trafficking survivors. “Survivors we work with describe how their trafficker provided necessities like food and shelter, and offered promises of love, protection, adventure, and opportunity.” VanDress points out that there is one way in which Maxwell and Kelly defy the mold of a typical trafficker. “Nationally, 31% of victims are recruited by family members and 27% by intimate partners, not by the wealthy lifestyles Maxwell and Kelly used. “Imagine the traumatic betrayal our survivors experience.”
Says Rodriguez, the Executive Director: “The crime of sex trafficking a minor is always grievous and always exacts a traumatic toll on its survivors. We hope these high-profile cases encourage survivors to seek the assistance and support they deserve.”
TurnAround provides free counseling and practical support services for survivors of sexual violence and intimate partner violence and human trafficking. TurnAround’s services, survivor advocacy, and legislative victories have established them as an innovative and authoritative voice in the field for more than four decades. TurnAround believes all survivors.
