Detectives find missing 15-year-old being used as escort in Lakeland; 2 arrested in undercover operation
LAKELAND Fla WSVN A -year-old girl is out of danger and two people are behind bars after an undercover operation in Central Florida ended in a human trafficking takedown The teen from Hillsborough County was published missing earlier this year In late June detectives detected her being used as an escort It s something that nobody should ever have to go through let alone a child reported youth and family advocate Ady Pena Detectives regularly monitor adult escort advertisements for suspicious activity They spotted the teenager in one of the ads Detectives conducted an undercover operation in Lakeland in June where they rescued her Advocates at a nonprofit refuge for trafficked youth explained she s lucky These are cases that we deal with every day We see almost a new occurrence daily reported Pena Functionaries stated the teen identified -year-old Terrence Whitfield as her trafficker who was then arrested Brittany Armstrong was also taken into custody Investigators commented she helped post the escort ads Detectives mentioned Whitfield communicated with buyers arranging sexual encounters acting as precaution during the meetings and collecting the proceeds Gabrielle Triplett a survivor of a different situation explained how the criminals usually operate They work on building relationships with people they work on finding out what their vulnerabilities are what their weaknesses are and then they exploit those she explained The Lakeland incident comes days after University of South Florida is St Petersburg published a evaluation showing just how widespread human trafficking is in the Sunshine State According to the analysis about Floridians are living as casualties of sex trafficking and another are being forced to work Tampa has the third the greater part ads in the state Miami is ranked at ninth The amount signifies a need for experts who can help the casualties We re just there to provide services We re there to ensure that they have what they need in order to proceed and go on mentioned Pena Both Whitfield and Armstrong face several charges related to human trafficking and prostitution
