Flores Theresa L. - The slave across the street : the true story of how an American teen survived the world of human trafficking

THE SLAVE ACROSS THE STREET

The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking

Theresa L. Flores with PeggySue Wells

Ampelon PUBLISHING

Boise, Idaho

www.ampelonpublishing.com Copyright 2010 by Theresa Flores

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9823286-8-2

E-book ISBN: 978-0-9817705-0-5

Paperback version Printed in the United States of America Requests for information should be addressed to: Ampelon Publishing, PO Box 140675, Boise, ID 83714

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009941479

To order other Ampelon Publishing products, visit us on the web at: www.ampelonpublishing.com

Cover photography & design: Jared Swafford SwingFromTheRafters.com

Praise for Theresa L. Flores and The Slave Across the Street

Flores puts a different kind of face on human trafficking in America. She is white, middle-class and blond and looks the epitome of a suburban American woman. She grew up in a wealthy suburb of Detroit in Michigan and did well at school. Yet Flores tells a nightmarish story

The London Guardian, NOV. 22, 2009

[Theresa Flores] turned her 'hell' into help for other victims Catholic News Service, NOV. 16, 2009 For 20 years, Theresa Flores kept a secret about the tortured life of her teen years

The Today Show, NBC, FEBRUARY 2009

Ive just finished your book and I want to say thank youthank you for the courage you brought to the writing, for the truth you spoke so unflinchingly, and for the hope that is your special gift to others. We hear too little from those who have borne slavery. Yet it is this lived experience, and the lessons that come from it, that is our best guide to ending slavery.

Kevin Bales, Free the Slaves, President and Author of Disposable People

This is a note of many thanks for coming to Dallas recently and participating in the Womens Symposium; I am still stopped on campus by people who were in attendance and who were deeply moved by your story in particular and by the panel in general.

R ICK H ALPERIN , S OUTHERN M ETHODIST U NIVERSITY H UMAN R IGHTS E DUCATION P ROGRAM , D IRECTOR

After reading Theresa Flores courageous book, I have come to understand how the pain of silence can cut a person off from a healthy life. Her honesty and courage has been an inspiration to me and my clientele. This book should be read by every therapist in America.

J OHN J. G ARY , MS, PCCS, NCC, P H .D., CLINICAL PSYCHOTHERAPIST

A St. Thomas Aquinas High School junior, the schools representative for the Catholic Consortium, said Flores story had a big impact on her, especially the secrecy of it. Her story made me shake in my seat.

The Catholic Exponent, JANUARY 22, 2009

Dedication

To my amazing children Samantha, Helena and Trey To God for giving me strength and to all the people being held in slavery around the world

Table of Contents

First and foremost, I want to honor my family, my three beautiful children for being by my side while I wrote this book. For putting up with my tirades, my emotional breakdowns, and my frustrations while I processed and healed by putting it down on paper. Without them, I would not have had the courage or strength to endure the re-occurring nightmares. Their love gave me hope to get through each day and see a better one the next. They gave me back my smile, my laughter, and a song.

Secondly, I would like to thank my friends and co-workers who supported me while I tackled this seemingly impenetrable mountain. Feeling as if I carried the weight of the world on my shoulders all these years, only to find these precious friends who didnt blink an eye when I told them my story.

Thanks to Mike Bucy, the first person who allowed me to tell my full story. He listened, held me, and offered suggestions for what to do. Although it took years to find another accepting person to hear me, he paved the way for my healing on several different levels. It is only natural that he is employed in one of the caring professions.

Natalie and Brandy were the first to hold my nightmare in their hands. And they still felt proud to know me. Their friendship empowered me to continue my journey until I had completed it. And to Melba, who ministered to me during the writing, helped me process my emotions and pain. She provided foresight to see the extent of my path, giving me strength to travel through the hard part until I could be cleansed again. This time without baths. Until I could smile again. Glow again. In Gods glory.

Thanks to God and all His angels for allowing me to stand here today. Alive, healthy, no longer broken, and finally able to tell my story. To help others heal from their wounds. To stop this atrocity from ever happening to another child.

My emotional journey this past year would not have been possible had it not been for the board of Gracehaven. This Christian shelter for domestic minor sex trafficking victims provides a tangible purpose, an outlet, to my mission. During the past year, while helping to develop the shelter and its programs, the board members prayed for me, provided a circle of protection while I shared my story publicly, and comforted me when I felt overwhelmed.

Lastly, thanks to Free the Slaves, Sandy Shepard, Given Kachepa, The Salvation Army, the Central Ohio Coalition to Rescue and Restore, and the Collaborative Initiative Against Human Trafficking in Cleveland Ohio. To all the wonderful catholic nuns in Ohio (Mercy, Dominican, Humility of Mary, and Notre Dame) for their support and eagerness to combat this injustice head on. They listened, never judged or doubted, and covered me with a blanket of love and acceptance. Thanks to the Polaris Project, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Prevent Child Abuse Ohio and to all the people in Ohio who helped me find my voice, who gave me the determination to finish this book and share my pain to educate others on modern day slavery.

Trafficking in Persons:

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of person, by means of the threat or use of forces or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, or the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation:

shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation

The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth above, shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in the above stated have been used

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered trafficking in persons even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in the above stated

taken from United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000

Lecturing across the United States over the past couple of years, Ive told my story a hundred times. While it has been excruciatingly painful, my journey bore fruit in the awareness that my story brings to others.

Whether speaking to five Midwestern Kiwanis men, a small room of retired Catholic nuns in Ohio, an auditorium full of eager and enthusiastic college students in California, Missouri, and Tennessee, or simply speaking privately and candidly to a television journalist who knew nothing of this topic, each time I began with the same question.