Keynote speaker Korrin Moon-Gardner addresses attendees at the 68th annual Lycoming County Brotherhood Alliance awards banquet. JESSICA WATSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent

The Lycoming County Brotherhood Alliance held their 68th annual banquet and awards ceremony recently and this year’s keynote speaker highlighted the very real dangers of human trafficking that exist in the community, some hidden within the place most feel safest, at home.

Korrin Moon-Gardner, special prosecutor for Lycoming County, founder of Lantern Rescue, an organization that seeks to help victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking from around the world reclaim and rebuild their lives approximately five years ago.

A Russian translator with the U.S. Marine Corps., Moon-Gardner founded Lantern Rescue after becoming aware that many other organizations fighting human trafficking focus on simply rescuing victims while not leaving any resources behind to fight the problem moving forward.

“We wanted to go in and empower local communities, and teach them how to do these rescues, so that when I’m in Williamsport, they can be doing rescues around the world,” she said.

“We travel the world, we train law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, on what human trafficking is, how to better investigate it, and we work with aftercare facilities to care for the victims in the recovery process,” Moon-Gardner explained.

She then turned her attention to dispelling the misconception that human trafficking must include kidnapping.

“In the last five years, we’ve rescued over 2,800 victims, and of them, less than 1% were kidnapping victims,” Moon-Gardner told the crowd.

“I draw that distinction because I want everyone in this room to understand that your children, your grandchildren, your friends, people that you see in the grocery store could be a victim of human trafficking. Just because they’re not missing doesn’t mean they’re not a victim,” she said, noting that 6% of all human trafficking cases in the state are under prosecution in Lycoming County, noting that is proportional across the state.

“What’s different about Lycoming County is that we are putting an emphasis on making sure that these victims are found and that these crimes are prosecuted. So we’re not special in the sense that we have more trafficking, but in a way, we’re special in the sense that our community cares more,” she said.

“Again, it’s not going to be kidnapping. Traffickers don’t want to deal in stolen goods,” she said, explaining that traffickers often employ grooming tactics to achieve their end goal with the victims.

“They’re going to take their time and groom victims over a long period of time, usually starting online, sometimes in person, and they’ll groom them over a long period of time, develop a relationship, develop trust with them, and slowly start to isolate them from their family and friends. Slowly start to ask for little favors from them that start innocently enough, here and there, and turn into a situation where this victim is being trafficked, sold to this boyfriend’s friends and their other acquaintances across the state,” Moon-Gardner explained.

“Sometimes that’s through a device, by producing child pornography in their own homes at the direction of other people, or they’re going to other people’s homes within the community, just walking over, saying they’re going to a friend’s house or to sports practice and they’re going to meet with an older boyfriend and then coming home to dinner with their parents,” she said, stressing that the situation is not hopeless.

Everyone has a role to play instopping human trafficking, whether it be through taking the time to listen to during conversations with loved ones and strangers, raising awareness through social media or just being more knowledgeable of the crime, Moon-Gardner stressed.

“Someone said during the introduction that we can improve our community one life at a time, and that’s the truest statement I’ve ever heard,” Moon-Gardner said.

“The reality is, there’s 28 million victims of human trafficking today. We need everyone in this fight that really cares and is looking around and really seeing people for who they are and what’s going on, not just having surface level conversations,” she said.

“The largest risk to children in America today for human trafficking is going to be what’s on their mobile devices. For a lot of kids that are trafficked today in the U.S., that situation starts and sometimes ends just down the hall from their parents on their device,” Moon-Gardner stressed.

“Have conversations with your kids. Talk about what’s on their phone, talk about what social media they’re on,” she said.

Build relationships and build trust, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many blocks you have on the phone, kids can get around them, and when something bad happens, they’re going to be afraid to come tell you about it,” she said.

“That’s not to say don’t have some controls on the phones, but have a relationship that’s set up in a way that when they do do something that they know shouldn’t be happening or they get a weird message, that they’re comfortable enough to come and talk to you about it, because unfortunately, some of these situations do end in children’s harming themselves because they feel like there’s no one out there to help them be that lifeline,” Moon-Gardner said, urging parents and guardians to put compassion before anger.

“Everyone should always be aware of their surroundings, however, the risk is not in the Target parking lot. The risk is in your home when they shut that bedroom door and they’re not talking to you anymore, have those relationships and communicate with them,” she stressed.

“I really do want to emphasize that you all can do something about this. Every single one of you can make a difference,” Moon-Gardner told the crowd.

“You have no idea who’s in front of you and who you might impact. So many victims testimonies over the years that a bus driver is the first person that found them, that a waitress at a restaurant is the first person that identified that something was wrong,” she said.

“Be looking around, always know your surroundings, know who’s around you, and actually care about one another, not just when we’re in rooms like this, but when we leave this room, who are you then,” she asked.

“We shouldn’t just be trying to make a life for ourselves but our communities,” Moon-Gardner concluded.