Director of Anti-Human Trafficking for VA’s Attorney General visits the Valley

VERONA, Va. (WHSV) - A glimpse of hope. Thursday evening the Valley community got to hear from the Anti-Human Trafficking director for the Virginia Attorney General’s office.

Tanya Gould shared her story with those in attendance and how it led her to a life of service.

“Unfortunately, this should not have ever happened to me, even as a child the things that happened to me as a child shouldn’t have happened, things that happened to me there shouldn’t have happened, but it’s still happening,” Gould said.

The event was put on by the Shenandoah Valley Coalition Counteracting Human Trafficking, which is made up of many organizations fighting trafficking in the Valley.

The event was called In Plain Sight and one of the messages of the night was traffickers don’t fit into a certain stereotype, they are often well-dressed and someone you may know.

“A lot of the buyers are politicians, officers, people of authority, pastors, ministers, husbands, college students, military,” Gould said.

Directors of the event say only about 1% of trafficking cases are abductions.

”This time let’s not miss this window of opportunity to end it in order to do that we can’t defy the movement we have to keep the main thing the main thing,” Gould said.

Advocates are fighting for more laws and training to help first responders detect trafficking cases.

Gould said there is a new curriculum she has worked on for resource officers in Virginia schools.

For more information on human trafficking or to get help you can contact any of the following places.

New Directions, New Creations, or Magnolia Rose.