Where Did Jeffrey Epstein's Victims Come From?

[MineralMan]

Most were probably runaway teens, really. They're especially vulnerable to being befriended, groomed, and led into sexual situations by people who understand them. Evidence shows that Epstein recruited some of his victims to find and recruit others.

According to the Polly Klaas foundation, between 1.6 and 2.8 million underage teens run away from home or are kicked out of their homes each year. Only a small fraction of those are found and returned to their families. The rest end up in various situations. Some survive and succeed later as adults. Many, however, become victims of sex trafficking, especially girls.

Some just disappear into the global sex trafficking industry, and are never heard from again. No doubt many die, and nothing is ever done to solve the crime. Runaways are not treated the same as kidnapping victims in any way.

One thing's certain, a young teen who runs away from home or is tossed out onto the street does not have well-developed survival skills. That makes them especially vulnerable to predators of all kinds. Epstein is, apparently, one of those predators. We have no idea what the extent of his predation has been. It is an enormous problem, because there are many Jeffrey Epsteins out there, watching and waiting for their next victims.

To learn more, you can visit the Polly Klaas Foundation's website, at:

http://www.pollyklaas.org/enews-archive/2013-enews/article-web-pages/the-truth-about-runaways.html

[Igel]

1. "Probably."

Best we know so far is a reporter's investigation--one of the bits that got the case reopened.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-jeffrey-epstein-allegedly-targeted-girls-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-who-were-most-vulnerable-to-abuse-2019-07-10

The only nod towards homeless is

Many were from “disadvantaged families, single-parent homes or foster care,” she wrote, with several girls just “one step away from homelessness.” Some girls had endured parents’ suicides, abusive fathers and abused mothers, she added.

If your only tool is a hammer, every problem is a nail.

If your mission is to help runaways, then every problem involves runaways.

This one very well might. But before we agree that "most were probably runaways", let's work at disposing of the "probably." Otherwise we probably know something and can probably reach a probable conclusion, with the sure knowledge that "probable" might simply mean "possible" or "there's a small chance."

[Wellstone ruled]

2. We see the effects

24/7 here in Vegas. As long as we have underfunding for Family Social Services,this problem we only fester into something worse. Our local PD has a special unit that investigates Trafficking but,again,it is understaffed due to funding.

The Glitz and Glamor are a powerful magnet. And the phrase "Farm Fresh" means what it is.

[MineralMan]

3. I haven't been to Las Vegas for years.

We used to go there twice a year for trade shows. I remember the days when there were people every few feet trying to hand you brochures on the strip for outcall sex services. Very aggressive about it, too.

The whole "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" trope encourages tourists to try such things.

It's easy to get to Vegas, but a lot harder to get away from Vegas if you're being trafficked.

Here in the Twin Cities, we have our own sex trafficking issues. It has calmed down somewhat since Backpages.com shut down, but it still goes on. The local police departments run sting operations and rescue some underage teens who are caught up in it, but I suspect that's just the tip of the iceberg.

What keeps trafficking of underage girls (and boys) alive is the customers for such things. There are so many of them. A never-ending supply, it looks like.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Understand backpage

was or has been replaced by something on Instagram as well as Facebook.

Still wall to wall bodies on the Stripe and more so on the weekends. Running joke with the locals is,stay away from the front doors of the MGM at 6 pm or the Girls and Boys will run you down. That goes for several of the Joints.

Cash and Flash! One of our neighbors runs a rehab center for young addicted adults. Her owners started with one center and now they have three or more specifically for young people cought up in the Sex Trade and are Addicts. Her business owners just opened two centers in Phoenix last fall.

[ismnotwasm]

4. I was a runaway teen. Hitchhiked down the coast one time

Ran into a few pimps, but I got away. The most dangerous one was so high, -probably on heroin- he just gave me lectures on how women need to learn how to orgasm. I was 15. I’ve always considered myself very, very lucky.

[MineralMan]

5. You were lucky!

It's not a world I know anything about, first-hand. I've met a very few people who lived in that world for a time.

Many do not escape as you did. Many die. Many disappear without a trace. As a society, we don't care very much. Those kids are disposable, really, for most people. We don't think about them, unless we're forced to.

[ismnotwasm]

7. There is a reunion every year

They made a movie about Seattle street kids, called “Streetwise” I’m a bit older than the people in that movie, and street shelf life is pretty short, but I’m welcome to the reunions.

The survivors turned our about how you’d expect, many challenges, like disease and addiction and mostly dead. In fact, until I reconnected with them on Facebook I thought all the people I knew on the streets were dead. I’ve been to a couple of reunions. I feel like Eliza Doolittle when she returned to her roots. Psychologically I will always understand the street a little better the middle-class, which is interesting. Makes me a good nurse though.

[MineralMan]

8. Well, I for one am glad you survived!

[gratuitous]

10. Streetwise was a very good, if disturbing, documentary

I remember the kids talking about the circumstances that put them on the street. Lots of talk about neglectful or abusive home environments, drug use, prostitution, and so forth. What stuck with me most was the question put to several of the subjects about their hopes for the future. Several of the kids were fixated on rich people they saw cruising around in limos. Many of them said their father was in one of them, and one day their dad would see them, know them, and pick them up and take them away from all this. Others just talked about being in a place without care or danger, where they and their friends would enjoy an endless banquet and party. I could hear echoes of old timey gospel songs in those wishful expressions: I'm gonna fly someday; In the sweet bye and bye; This world is not my home; etc.

Predators know their prey, and folks like Jeffrey Epstein know how to make the lost and the neglected feel found and cared for. They know their prey might run away and try to tell on them, and they're very careful to choose "troubled" kids. After all, who are you going to believe? Mr. Big Shot hedge fund manager, pillar of the community, with connections all over the power structure, or some drug addicted teen-ager with a criminal record as long as your arm? No, no, we need to be compassionate toward these lost children, but don't believe for a moment their wild stories against Mr. Big Shot.

[Baltimike]

9. knr...very important

[Princess Turandot]

11. One of the victims from NYC briefly described how she was gradually befriended...

...by a woman who would pass by her public school (junior high, I think) from time to time during the lunch hour. There would be other kids outside, hanging with their pals, but she would usually be standing by herself, a bit away from them. She wasn't dressed quite as well as the rest. And they probably completely ignored her.

One day, the nicely groomed woman smiles at her, although she doesn't stop. Perhaps the next time or two, she says 'hello' as she walks by. Eventually, she does stop to speak with her for a few moments. Having determined that the girl doesn't have much in the way of friends, at least not in the immediate circumstances, she learns that the girl's family doesn't have much money. Then she brings up her terrific and rich friend, who pays her for massages performed at his great house not too far away. It's even close enough for them to walk there.

The woman spotted her, and from there, it was predation 101.

I imagine that this was one of several variations on it.