Local sex trafficking prevention group pushes to bring awareness before Florida-Georgia game

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thousands of people are headed to Jacksonville for the Florida Georgia game this week.

For one local group, it’s a time for concern.

The president of the organization Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution says sex trafficking goes up when big events like this come to town.

“We have canvassed 65 hotels in the city,” said President Silvia Almond.

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SOAP is on a mission to help prevent human trafficking, a mission that becomes even more critical when big events like the Florida-Georgia game come to town.

“We bring 200 to 400 soaps for hotels so they can help us put in the bathroom and lobbies,” said Almond.

On each bar of soap is a number victims can to call for help.

Almond says staff at local hotels are trained to identify signs of sex trafficking and where to report it.

“Unfortunately, in this element of the dark world, that’s when the demand is doubled,” she said.

Almond says human trafficking victims are mostly young women.

She related the story of 31-year-old Richard Moffett.

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Court records show Moffett was a pimp and heroin dealer who moved to Jacksonville and began living in different hotels earlier this summer.

Moffett pleaded guilty to three counts of forcible sex trafficking.

Almond says she believes much more needs to be done to keep violent crimes like this from happening here.

“Exposing the buyer helps us bring awareness that this is the type of man that’s buying these girls,” Almond explained.

Almond says she and members of the group will be at the game this weekend to hand out more bars of soap.

Cox Media Group