The FBI is now collaborating with the Mexican consulate in Omaha to ensure any victims of trafficking have the ability to report it without any fear of losing their immigration status. Currently, the FBI has 1,900 open cases, some of them here in the heartland.
”They may be afraid to come forward because they are maybe afraid of immigration or being deported, or they are being trafficked by someone who cares for them,” Supervisor Special Agent Gregory Beninato told 6 News.
According to Beninato, things are only getting busier. “We are getting more and more cases, but what we aren't seeing is this large human trafficking rings.”
Just a year ago a 62-year-old man approached a high school girl in Omaha telling her he would pay her in exchange for sex. But this is not considered prostitution
“An underage female was engaging in sexual activities with an older male for money it doesn't matter if she was consenting or not, she was a minor and he was a trafficker,” Beninato told 6 News.
Her trafficker was found in Mexico and he was arrested with the help of authorities down there. The girl wasn't the only minor to be a victim of trafficking...
“In 2019 we located 4 minors that were being trafficked,” Beninato says. “If we find that a woman or man is doing it on their own volition, we don't consider that in our eyes sex trafficking,” Beninato says.
In that recent case, Richard Massey of Council Bluffs was sentenced to 40-months in prison followed by 5-years of supervised release.
The work with the Mexican consulate is ongoing.