A Reflection on the Headlines
Five people were arrested in Roanoke this week in connection with a human trafficking ring. Prosecutors have confirmed that more than 50 victims were coerced with money and drugs to engage in prostitution. This case shines a light on an important truth: prostitution is not always what it appears to be.
Often, there is far more happening behind the scenes. While a victim may be the visible, front-facing person, there is frequently someone in the background holding the money, the control, and the power. Traffickers may promise to meet basic needs—such as housing, safety, stability, or, as in this case, access to drugs—in exchange for sex or labor. What looks like a choice on the surface is often driven by coercion, manipulation, and survival.
There is much to unpack when we talk about choice versus coercion. In trafficking situations, something is almost always being leveraged. Whether it is access to basic needs, fear of retaliation, emotional dependency, or substances, manipulation plays a central role. In these circumstances, where does true free choice exist?
Someone recently shared a truth that captures this reality well: if you cannot freely say no, then you cannot truly say yes.
This is one reason coercion is so difficult to identify—and even harder to prosecute. It rarely looks obvious from the outside. The woman standing in line at the grocery store may appear indistinguishable from anyone else, moving through her day like you and me. Yet behind the scenes, her life may be tightly controlled by someone who knows exactly where she is, how much money she has, who she is allowed to communicate with, and how long even a simple errand is supposed to take.
High-profile cases, such as the exploitation uncovered in the Epstein case, reveal the same underlying patterns seen in trafficking across many contexts. Trafficking does not always involve physical force; it often operates through access, influence, financial control, and significant power imbalances. In this case, victims were frequently targeted because of their youth, naivety, family instability, financial vulnerability, or aspirations in modeling or other creative fields—each representing a point of leverage for manipulation. As with many trafficking situations, victims may appear to be participating willingly, while the true nature of the exploitation remains hidden from public view.
These cases—whether local or widely known—remind us that trafficking is not a distant or abstract issue. It happens quietly in our own communities and is frequently misunderstood or overlooked. At Stone Haven, we walk alongside adult women who have experienced exploitation and coercion, offering a trauma-sensitive, whole-person approach to healing. Our work exists because behind every headline is a real person who needs safety, dignity, and long-term support—not judgment.
Awareness is a critical first step. When we look beyond assumptions and learn to recognize the realities of exploitation, we create space for survivors to be seen, supported, and restored. To learn more about Stone Haven’s work or how to support survivors in our community, we invite you to connect with us.
