The audience of 275 sat in stunned silence as it watched as several girls got “initiated” into sex slave-dom at a screening of the docu-drama Cargo: Innocence Lost on Wednesday in West Hollywood.
 Michael Cory Davis, thankful for the work of his cast and crew, hugs his lead actress within the narrative of Cargo: Innocence Lost. Photo courtesy Journey Film Group |
The rape scene was the most shocking episode in a night full of shocking images and testimony that helped the attendees understand human trafficking and how it occurs – even here in the WeHo/LA area.
The movie, produced and directed by Michael Cory Davis, was screened at the building of the National Council of Jewish Women of Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue and was attended by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Loosle, among other city officials.
Cargo tells the story of a young Bulgarian girl named Svetlana who gets tricked into a nightmare human trafficking ring. When she arrives in the United States, she is raped, beaten and forced to take drugs — initiated into trafficking.
 || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE || |
Then she lives as a prostitute until one day she jumps out of a window and escapes. The story is occasionally interrupted by interviews with officials of law enforcement, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
 A scene from “Cargo: Innocence Lost” |
After the movie, a panel of eight officials answered audience questions. They were:
Rohida Khan, director of the Network of Emergency Trafficking Services; Julie Heifitz, project coordinator on women’s public policy issues for the city of L.A. Commission on the Status of Women.
Also on the panel was Lt. Carlos Velez, LAPD Task Force on Human Trafficking; L.A. City Council member Tony Cardenas; Loosle; Baca; Davis; and Robert Schoch, deputy district director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran moderated.
Davis said he was inspired to do the film when he met Svetlana, a human trafficking victim.
 |Advertisement | CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION | Advertisement | CLICK HERE | |
 West Hollywood Mayor John Duran moderating the forum. Photo by Ryan Gierach. |
“Their message is this crime is happening,” he said.
Loosle also stressed that the same crime that used to be called the white slave trade “still happens.”
And young girls from other countries are not the only victims of trafficking, said Davis. Girls from within the U.S. are tricked into thinking advertisements on the Internet are for modeling jobs.
But the traffickers, said Davis, are “just building relationships with your kids. Here domestically, children are a commodity now.”
 || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE || |
According to Velez, victims are enticed to Las Vegas, but are then brought to the rural areas outside the city’s Clark County — right now the only county in Nevada where prostitution is illegal — to be prostituted.
But outside of Nevada, trafficking still occurs at places like some massage parlors.
 From left: Rohida Khan, Julie Heifitz, Lt. Carlos Velez, Tony Cardenas; Robert Loosle, Sheriff Baca; Michael Cory Davis; and Robert Schoch. Photo by Ryan Gierach. |
Audience members wondered what law enforcement is doing about the issue.
 || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE || |
Velez said the LAPD has a special section devoted to constantly reviewing the licenses of such businesses. He said it is difficult to identify victims because traffickers use the idea of police to intimidate many girls.
 Michael Cory Davis. Photo by Ryan Gierach. |
And many governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are devoted to stopping the crime, said Schoch. “We have a tremendous amount of resources we are putting into this,” he said.
He and Khan added that agencies work together to solve trafficking cases.
But the audience also wondered how to stop demand for young girls.
“What are we doing to cut down on the consumers?” asked Duran.
Davis said he thinks the key is educating those men caught soliciting business from traffickers.
 || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE || |
Khan said she believes our culture should be changed in regards to how it thinks of prostitution and pimping. Being called a pimp used to be an insult, she said, “now it’s accepted as a cool thing.”
 Rohida Khan, director of the Network of Emergency Trafficking Services Photo by Ryan Gierach. |
Heifitz said she believes pornography fuels a lot of the demand for prostitution and young girls.
Baca said he believes the age-old issue of men’s power over women needs to be discussed more. “There’s a thread of power in this that’s probably not being discussed enough,” he said.
And audience members wondered what they could do to combat the problem.
Velez offered the telephone number of an organization called “Know Human Trafficking,” at (800) 655-4095. For more information about the movie, go to www.cargoinnocencelost.com.
“Awareness is the most important thing in this,” said Davis.
 || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION || Advertisement || CLICK HERE FOR MORE || |