Deena Graves was “devastated” when she first heard about the trafficking of children in Thailand during a lecture. She had no idea people could do such things.

“But I never thought it could happen here,” she said.

Then a friend of hers, who worked alongside the FBI in a human trafficking sting, told her that not only did the trafficking of children happen in America, but also it was a serious and growing problem. She began researching the issue, quit her corporate job and founded Traffick 911 in 2009 to combat domestic child trafficking.

In the United States, more than 100,000 children are affected by trafficking annually.

America leads the world in the demand for sex with a child, a $9.8 billion industry in this country, Graves said in a recent interview. She travels the U.S. educating different agencies on the crime, identifying instances of trafficking and how to combat trafficking best in their own profession.

“People think this couldn’t be going on in the States we are civilized, but the truth is the only difference between the U.S. and a third world country is that this country is better at covering it up,” Graves said. “In some places you can order a young girl online and she will be there faster than a pizza.”

Graves, originally from Texas, was invited to host a presentation on domestic minor trafficking through a partnership between the Rhode Island Airport Police, the State Police, United States Attorney’s Office the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office and Amica Insurance.

The presentation, which was held all day May 27 with a shorter presentation the following morning covered not only human trafficking, but also ways to identify and handle situations with victims and how law enforcement can overcome the challenges that come with human trafficking.

Graves told law enforcement officials, “You may be the only person who ever gets the opportunity to see that these children are being victimized and get them out of that situation. You are in a position, a profession, to recognize and save these children.”

Graves started her presentation, which focused on domestic child trafficking, on Thursday morning with the story of a 14-year-old girl who was forced into sex slavery and trafficked through six states in only 30 days. She said traffickers are hiding in plain sight and using public transportation to keep children moving between different markets.

She said Rhode Island is actually a prime location for traffickers because of its proximity to Boston, it is a port city, lies on Interstate 95, and has an airport all within a close vicinity to each other, giving a trafficker a lot of avenues through which to move victims.

Also, in Rhode Island 61,000 households aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. All over the country there are 15.9 million children in search of a meal. Graves said that impoverished children or runaways (this country has 2.4 million runaways) are at a higher risk of falling victim to traffickers.

“If we aren’t feeding these kids, want to bet who will?” Graves asked.

A trafficker can make up to $200,000 a year on one child, and paying for food to “groom” and gain the trust of a starving child is seen as a “good investment,” Graves said.

Graves termed these children “throwaways” because they fall through the “cracks” of the system and are forgotten about.

“People will spend $6 on a coffee, but we have ‘throwaway’ children?” she said.

Ninety percent of children who are trafficked domestically have been victims of abuse before. She talked of one rescued girl who said she’d rather be forced to have sex with a stranger every day than be forced to have sex with her father every day.

She said more often than not young victims of domestic trafficking think they are not “worth justice” or somehow deserve the abuse.

Traffickers are highly manipulative using both physical and psychological tactics to keep their victims submissive and controlled.

“They truly manipulate these kids until they believe it was their choice to go into prostitution in the first place,” Graves said. “Some of these men and women can run their whole empire from a jail cell. They have such control over these children.”

Only about one percent of trafficking cases are prosecuted and more often than not victims are re-victimized being arrested or jailed themselves for prostitution while their trafficker moves on to another victim. This is one of the reasons trafficking is the number one growing organized crime.

“This is a threat to national security. Where you have drugs, gangs or any organized crime, children are being trafficked for profit,” Graves said.

According to Graves, gangs that once dealt with drugs or weapons are leaving those markets behind for trafficking because there is more profit with less chance of being caught.

She questioned how young children can be charged with prostitution when they haven’t even reached the age of consent and why “no one is asking questions.”

She equated human trafficking to domestic abuse 30 years ago when wives weren’t seen as victims and couldn’t be held accountable on the stand. There has been a huge push over the last few years and finally, as a society, we see domestic abuse as a crime and actively combat it.

“These kids don’t have 30 years, though,” Graves said.

She said most people are unaware that this is a concern in America. Similarly, she said our media is “normalizing sex with the abuse of children,” making it only that much more excusable and more popular.

On average, girls forced into trafficking are between 12 and 13 years of age where boys are 11, although this happens to children much younger and older. Once trafficked, the life expectancy of a child is a mere seven years. These victims fall to malnourishment, drugs, suicide and, more often than not, are murdered.

“People will buy these kids just to kill them,” Graves said.

A young child can see up to 50 “johns” in only three weeks. While discussing what to look for when someone is a buyer in a trafficking situation, Graves termed these johns “paper rapists” because “they are literally paying to rape our children.

The biggest demographic population buying children for sex is married professional males in the middle and upper classes, she said.

She said traffickers and pimps won’t look like they do in the movies. She showed various pictures of convicted traffickers, and among them were businessmen in suits, legislative leaders and one was a 19-year-old girl.

“She doesn’t look scary; you would let her baby-sit your kids, she looks so nice,” Graves said.

The officers at the training were all surprised to learn about trafficking, expressing their anger and disgust often throughout the presentation. She shared several red flags to look for with the officers including malnourished or disoriented appearance, scars, bruises, flesh wounds and tattoos, such as barcodes, gang signs or ones with variations of “Daddy’s Girl.”

Officers can also look for a child that is traveling alone, with little to no luggage, or with someone older and watched persistently, scripted answers and a fear of uniformed authority and using sex industry lingo at a young age.

Most importantly, Graves said it is important to let these trafficked children know they are safe once separated from a trafficker and being open-minded without being judgmental.

She said when she holds presentations she stresses that any child can become a victim and to always trust your instincts. She said even if you think something may be too “bizarre” to be true, “these children are living bizarre lives.

“I want to bring hope back to these children,” Graves said. “They need our help.”

For more information on Traffick 911 visit their website at www.traffick911.com.

If you or someone you know if being trafficked call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733 “Help” or “Info.”