OKLAHOMA CITY -
Philip Gatson, 23, is currently in the Oklahoma County
jail on $50,000 bond. He's a known pimp who has repeated arrests, including one just 10 days ago for
a prostitution related complaint. But he keeps
getting out. And goes right back to what he knows, trafficking women and
children.
Oklahoma City police arrested Gatson and Sylvia
WIlliams outside a gas station off NW 122nd and MacArthur, after officers found
them with a 17-year-old runaway out of Tulsa who was listed on the national
crime database as a sex trafficking victim.
He was also one of the many people arrested back in
2012 and 2013 during Operation Cross Country - a nationwide sting set up by the
FBI and local law enforcement aimed at getting known pimps, prostitutes and
human traffickers behind bars and trying to rescue underage girls from the
exploitive lifestyle.
"People are just preyed upon," said Dr. Lori Basey
with No Boundaries International, a group trying to help prostitutes leave the
world's oldest known profession.
"It's those who are in dire situations, or those with
lower self-esteem, or those who just make one bad choice. And so it's just so
frustrating to see."
Basey is just one of the many involved in the fight against human
trafficking who gathered Friday evening for a candlelight vigil at the Oklahoma
Bar Association.
"We just like to remind them that they are beautiful,"
said Basey. "And that they are made for something more than that and we just
take them by the hand and help them find a way out if that is what they are
looking for."
"When these women are brought off the streets, and
when they come to us, there is such a high level of fear," said Sonya Martinez.
Martinez is the director of Beautiful Dream Society,
an organization that has set up a shelter for victims of human trafficking
right here in Oklahoma City.
"They want to make changes," said Martinez. "And
sometimes they don't know how and they don't feel safe."
The human trafficking hotline is (405) 717-1221. It is
manned 24/7 and all calls are kept confidential.
January
is human trafficking awareness month. Wearing a blue ribbon is a way you can
show your support for those trying to stop sex trafficking.