A former drug addict and alcoholic, Ms. Bradley recounted how she spent several years being sold for sex by a man she trusted and thought she loved. It's a life the 58-year-old Columbus resident said she was able to escape.
Others, she noted tearfully, aren't so lucky.
Ms. Bradley was one of several speakers at the Third Annual Human Trafficking Day held in the Ohio Statehouse. Sponsored by state Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), the event brought together advocates, social service professionals, and those involved in the legal system in an attempt to keep the discussion going about human trafficking and its victims.
"I've been where these girls are, and so I can tell them, 'You're going to make it,' " said Ms. Bradley, who was transported everywhere from Toledo to Texas to be sold for sex but she said she found a way out through her devotion to God. "My hope is I want to have a home for these girls. … My passion in life is to pay it forward, to help others."
Nearly a year after a law went into effect in Ohio creating a second-degree felony of trafficking in persons, advocates are now looking to the next step -- helping those, especially minors, who have been victimized.
A bill introduced in June, 2011, would require those under age 18 who are picked up in prostitution stings be treated as victims, not criminals.
Known as the Safe Harbor Act, the proposed legislation also would require the dissemination of information about human trafficking resources in an attempt to help those trapped in the sex trade.
Ms. Fedor said the bill is being studied and reviewed.
She noted the goal is to address the issue using a "victim-centered approach."
"The experts are out there. We just need the elected officials to first recognize that there is a problem and then not be scared of it but be responsible enough to address it," she said.
During the day-long event, several Toledo-area advocates discussed what was being done in northwest Ohio.
Toledo became a focus of the human trafficking microscope in 2005 when a federal sting in Harrisburg, Pa., broke up a sex-trafficking operation involving 177 females.
Seventy-seven of the victims were from the Toledo area, including a 10-year-old girl.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Moroney told program participants of a December trial in U.S. District Court in Toledo in which Anthony Willoughby, Jr., was found guilty of juvenile sex trafficking by fraud, force, and coercion.
After days of testimony from nearly 20 witnesses, including the then-16-year-old victim and two men who paid for sex with her, the jury deliberated only 27 minutes before returning a guilty verdict, he said.
Willoughby faces 15 years to life in prison when sentenced by Judge Jack Zouhary.
"Her testimony was powerful, but [days] before the trial, she freaked and said she wouldn't testify," Mr. Moroney said, adding that members of the Toledo-area task force helped her come to terms with testifying.
"It shows you at any moment that you can lose a victim and the victims are the most important things in this process."
Lucas County Juvenile Court Judge Connie Zemmelman and Toledo police Detective Pete Swartz were among those who participated in a legal panel while a social work panel was made up of Mike Brennan from Lucas County Juvenile Court, Mary Schmidbauer from Second Chance Toledo, and Melinda Sykes on behalf of University of Toledo's Celia Williamson.
Ms. Fedor remarked there was "no political hat" involved with the issue and that work still must be done to reach out to those trapped in the sex trade and to help them once they are found.
"We can't address this without being educated about it," the state representative said, noting that she chose to sponsor the state awareness day near the Jan. 11 national awareness day.
"We need awareness because there are people who still think that prostitution is the oldest profession when, in fact, it's the oldest oppression."
Contact Erica Blake at: eblake@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.