Most human trafficking isn’t like in the movie “Taken,” with children being kidnapped. Instead, it often arises out of poverty or situations involving families.

That’s according to Kelly Dore, a survivor of sexual abuse who now works to fight human trafficking. She spoke to an audience in Douglas County at an Aug. 17 town hall about the issue.

Dore says she grew up in a “fairly affluent” community but was being abused and trafficked by her biological father. She told several adults, but they didn’t understand how to help, she said.

People can be forced into trafficking without the signs being clear to observers, Dore told the audience.

“I was just the everyday average girl,” said Dore, who said she excelled as a soccer player and had a high grade-point average as a youth. But away from the public eye, she was told if she revealed to people what was going on, “I will kill your mother. I will kill your brother.”

The abuse was so normalized, she thought other girls were commonly going through the same thing.

She cautioned the public against sharing the “things we see on the internet and social media” regarding human trafficking because spreading misinformation makes the work people do to fight trafficking more difficult.

“Make sure that you understand the source” of the information, she said.  

Jenelle Goodrich is the founder of the organization, From Silenced to Saved, which supports survivors of sexual exploitation, its website says.

Those involved in human trafficking are often someone people might not suspect in their community, Goodrich said.

“It’s a middle-aged man with two children who’s White,” Goodrich said, adding it could be people you sit at a soccer game next to.

“It’s not drag queens, no matter what you feel about them. It’s not the priest … no matter what you think about them … It’s not the Black guy walking down the street with the baggy pants,” Goodrich said.

Sometimes people are trafficked through coercion rather than being “chained to a wall,” said Johanna Spille, who also works to support survivors of trafficking with the organization Covered Colorado.

“It’s so important to understand that a victim’s prison is mental — it’s emotional, it’s not physical,” Spille said, telling the crowd about a survivor they worked with who sat in a coffee house.

“They look like you and I,” Spille said.

Abusers find a way to control victims through vulnerabilities, like a drug addiction or if “their dad wasn’t around,” taking advantage to form what’s called a “trauma bond,” Goodrich said.

County Commissioner Abe Laydon brought up the example of someone who might provide a topless photo in exchange for money and then gets blackmailed.

Dore urged parents to be involved with their child’s technology and to “have a basic conversation about sex with your children.”

“Have a basic conversation about if you send a topless picture to your friend, it is never going away,” Dore said.

Sheriff Darren Weekly urged people to remember the advice: “If you see something, say something.”

“A lot of times, people are hesitant to get involved if something bothers them,” Weekly said. “If something doesn’t sit right with you,” let law enforcement know, he said.

Or to report or get help, call Colorado’s human trafficking hotline at 866-455-5075.

The 24/7 hotline and resource directory is managed by the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, a Colorado-based nonprofit. You can also text the hotline between noon and midnight mountain time at 720-999-9724.

For more information on human trafficking, see the Colorado Department of Human Services’ website at cdhs.colorado.gov/child-trafficking-in-colorado or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s website at cbi.colorado.gov/sections/investigations/human-trafficking.