(NewsNation) — A man going by the name “Sebastian” sat down with NewsNation to describe his work rescuing women and children being sex trafficked by Mexican cartels.
He told NewsNation’s Natasha Zouves about the cartels’ methods to enslave children and about his own undercover methods for hunting the perpetrators, taking down the traffickers and serving as a confidential informant to federal agencies.
He says he has freed more than 200 women and children so far.
Sebastian said the trafficking victims are typically between 12 and 16 years old, though his team at New Hope Foundation International has helped parents who have had children as young as 8 years old taken by the cartel for the purposes of sex trafficking.
Kidnapped: How women, children are sex trafficked by cartel
Sebastian says it often starts with a family south of the border trying to cross into the U.S. illegally. They typically pay the cartels thousands of dollars, though he says it is not unusual for the cartels to demand $15,000 per person. Then, the cartel looks at the family and chooses.
“If the young lady is pretty, woman or child is attractive, and they feel that they could sell that child or traffic that person … they’ll just outright kidnap that person,” Sebastian said.
“And if they are with family members, they will either try to strategically say, ‘Well, she’s going into a separate car,’” he continued. “And then when they keep the girl, they’ll just tell the family member, ‘You know what? The cops pulled us over. They took her away. Immigration has her.’ And then that’s it. They never hear from her.”
Sebastian said a brutal life is waiting for these women and children under the cartel. They are often moved to large American cities like San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas and throughout Texas or returned to locations in Mexico.
Sebastian said depending on the day of the week, the women and children could be forced to service “as little as five or 10 men in one day to as many as 30 to 40 in one night.”
None of the girls make any money, Sebastian said.
“Some of them get promised that if they work off up to a certain amount, they’ll eventually be released. But the goal line always gets moved,” he added.
Sebastian says that “goal line” is often $50,000 to $100,000, but the number will keep increasing as the women work.
“A lot of women die,” Sebastian said.
When traffickers are done with a person, they‘ve been known to take them to the outskirts of the city and kill them, he said.
Hunting the traffickers, freeing the survivors
Sebastian says he knows he’s fighting against time.
As a confidential informant for federal agencies, he is not paid. It affords him certain protection in the work that he does, as well as a network of intelligence and support that he says has proved to be lifesaving. He recalls a previous incident where law enforcement warned him he had been compromised before a critical meetup.
As the director of rescue operations at New Hope Foundation International, his work is mostly funded through donations to the nonprofit.
There are many details he can’t talk about; these are the methods he can disclose. He befriends the traffickers and poses as a “John,” i.e., someone looking to procure the services of the girls and women.
“Once they trust you, they start offering you girls,” said Sebastian.
The challenge is to reach these women and children and to never touch them without raising suspicion.
One strategy he can talk about: gifting the women or children a cell phone.
“They say, ‘Oh, I like your phone,’ (and I say), ‘Oh, yeah, that’s cool. I’m gonna get another one. Would you like to keep this one if I get the new one?’ And they say, ‘Yeah,’” Sebastian said. “It’s a $400 to $600 phone, and they’ll get it for free. Little do they know that (through) coordinated efforts with the government, that phone has tools in there to monitor everything.”
He says that cell phone is often what cracks the case wide open, giving law enforcement and the government what it needs to bust the sex ring.
NewsNation spoke with Kevin Metcalf, a former federal agent and director of the Human Trafficking Response Unit at the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, about working with Sebastian on past cases.
According to Metcalf, Sebastian has the trust, resources and network “to do things we can’t.”
“When we tell him, for example, there’s a 13-year-old girl, and we don’t know if we can keep her safe, he can reach out and make sure that happens,” Metcalf said. “Even for government officials, we struggle to do things like that.”
Leon Worthen is a former Director of Operations at the Naval Special Warfare Mission Support Center (NSW MSC). He said he’s worked 12 cases with Sebastian, using him in reconnaissance.
“He is definitely the real deal,” Worthen said. “He has the ability, the fearlessness, the courage and the bravery to put himself in harm’s way when it comes to rescuing a victim of trafficking or abuse, and every single time, the results are amazing.”
Sebastian says he’s been in shootouts and has had his life threatened multiple times.
He says this work is deeply personal, and he will do it as long as he’s able. What keeps him going despite the danger is the drive to save every person he can — and the memory of one child in particular: the little boy he was decades ago when no one came to save him.
“When I was a child, I was sexually assaulted multiple times on two different occasions, and at that time, nothing was done to help me,” said Sebastian. “So, I know that those kids find it hard to speak out once they fall in that trap. And then even after you do speak out, and you get help, it’s hard for them to not blame themselves. I used to blame myself. It’s hard to ask for help.”
