on the streets of chicago and all across america, the business of sex for sale is booming, fueled by the internet. >> this is not a problem that just happens in another country. >> we have girls come from texas, we have girls come from minnesota, girls come from iowa. >> so, what am i going to be under arrest for? >> prostitution. >> in a world where girls and young women take all the risk, pimps and traffickers keep all the cash. >> it's not physical bondage, it's mental bondage. this is what traffickers and pimps and predators do. >> tonight, msnbc goes under cover with the cook county human trafficking task force.

>> get him out of here, quick. >> as they battle the buyers and sellers of sex and reach out to rescue the young and the lost trapped in chicago's underground sex trade. rising from the shores of lake michigan, the skyline of chicago sparkles and soars, but beyond the glittering facade of glass and steel lies a city at the crossroads of america's underground sex trade. >> relax, okay, sweetie? >> okay. >> don't get nervous or anything, okay? >> tonight, police find this young woman selling sex in a hotel room more than 600 miles away from her home in arkansas. local authorities say it's an all-too-common occurrence in the

windy city. >> it does happen here in our own backyard. in cook county, chicago is a transportation hub, it's a convention hub, and it's ripe for this type of crime. >> how'd it go in court? >> illinois's state's attorney alvarez heads the joint task force to combat the booming underground sex trade in chicago and the surrounding suburbs. >> do your parents know where you are? >> um -- >> i think that we're really not going to get anywhere or make a dent into this crime unless we as local prosecutors do more. >> in 2011, the illinois safe child act became law in the land of lincoln, giving local police and prosecutors a new set of investigative tools to identify and rescue trafficking victims, provide them with social services and punish the pimps who exploit them. >> i'd like people to think about that this could be their daughter. >> cook county sheriff tom dart commands the task force in the field.

he says that part of his job includes changing the public's misperception about the girls and young women who work the streets of chicago. >> every single one of these girls at one point was someone's little child, at one point was held in someone's arms and thought, you know, this child's going to be something. at one point, that child actually thought when they were in kindergarten, first grade, that they were going to be something. these are real humans that are no different from our children, and the reason that they're doing what they're doing now has a long history, and it's an ugly history, and people need to understand that. >> or the, are you okay now? >> the task force in cook county is one of the more aggressive local law enforcement efforts aimed at both rescuing trafficked women and arresting the traffickers and johns who exploit them. >> what's going on with the hotels? are we good? >> special operations commander mike anton takes the lead on today's investigation. >> what we're doing, we're doing reversals. we call them prostitution stings. our goal is to try to find the girls that are being trafficked and pimped out on the internet.

so, we're going to answer ads and the girls will come to us. d dom's already got a couple of dates. he's got one date set up. we're also answering the ads and going to them. so, we're going to have two teams going out, but we're also going to post some ads of our own and try and have some men answer the ads to come to the hotel. >> once we arrest the girls, though -- >> today's operation is comprehensive, attacking both the supply and demand sides of the sex for sale equation and focusing primarily on the digital street corner that is backpage.com. >> first of all, there's hundreds of sites out there. backpage i think has taken a hit because they're the largest. they're making millions of dollars off of that. they know what's going on. they've acknowledged what's going on, and they're not going to make an effort to stop it because they're making so much money. >> and then i would go down to rush street and -- >> the cook county task force also includes crisis counselors, like brenda powell, a former prostitute who now works the other side of the street reaching out and offering guidance to girls and young women trapped in the life.

>> you know what i mean? >> in the 25 years i was in prostitution, i've been shot five times, stabbed over 13 times, beat, kidnapped, held against my will. all those things happen when you're in prostitute. every time you go out there and somebody pulls a gun to your head or something like that, your chances get less, do you know what i mean? i understand where they come from. i understand who these women are. so, who better to send in and talk to them than someone who's been through it? and that's what i do. >> it's a little after 1:00 p.m. when the task force sets up in a hotel near o'hare airport. this strip of hotels and motels is a well-known hotspot for the business of sex for sale in cook county. male undercovers in one room begin making contact with women advertising sex for sale on backpage.com. >> hi, this is tim. i'm looking at your ad on

backpage. i'm hoping you're available some time today. would you be willing to come to me? i'm at a hotel in schiller park. >> meanwhile, in a room across the hall, female undercovers post fake ads for sex on backpage and lure johns to the hotel. >> are you going to come visit me? what time are you looking at? okay. i charge $90, frank, for a full service for one hour, is that okay with you? >> he's calling for a date for tonight, wants to know if i do greek, which is common term for anal sex. >> i'm in the o'hare area. >> okay. i can't wait to see you. >> female undercovers make contact with an eager john. >> right now. he's going to be here in two minutes. >> meanwhile, a male undercover in the room across the hall also has a subject on the way. >> you're not the police, right? you know you've got to tell me that, right? well, that's why i want to give you my number, you know. i don't want a bunch of dudes kicking in my door. >> the team scrambles to prepare for two simultaneous takedowns. >> are you guys good? >> yeah, we're good.

>> all right, let me know. you're going to hang out in the lobby, then? >> it's always feast or famine. we'll have nothing, we'll make the phone calls, we'll put the ads on, and in the space of a half hour, we'll have five people show up. >> it's critical that when we take this guy down, we take him out of there and get him in here immediately. >> arresting officers huddle in the next room, eyeballing the john's approach in the hallway and waiting for a hit on the panic pager to signal that the deal for sex has been made. [ beeping ] >> how are you doing? >> police. take your hands out of your pocket. you're under arrest. >> the stunned john is quickly cuffed and hustled into a processing room. >> get him out of here, quick. hurry up. >> while officers reset the trap for a call girl who is only moments away. >> hey, how are you doing? >> police. >> police. >> oh. >> what's going on here? >> on the bed right there.

>> real quick. >> all right, we're the police. >> okay. >> just so you know. you're under arrest. >> okay. >> okay? >> the team now has two in the bag, and their operation has only just begun. >> i don't think we should get in trouble for this at all. >> it's what they want to do. i don't have nothing to say. you pay your auto insurance premium every month on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness,

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police. take your hands out of your pockets. you're under arrest. >> investigators with the cook county human trafficking task force are conducting undercover prostitution stings in a hotel near o'hare airport. >> get him out of here, quick. hurry up. >> the team quickly makes two arrests that illustrate both sides of the sex for sale equation. >> take a seat in this chair for me, all right? >> a 55-year-old john is snared

in the first trap, and a 27-year-old call girl is arrested just moments later. >> police. >> police. >> oh. >> what's going on here? >> have a seat on the bed right there. >> detectives want to know more about the young woman's situation to see if she's in physical danger or in need of social services. but first, they must dispense with the john. >> male white. >> a married man on his way home from work. the john seems to be on the verge of tears. he tells police that today is his first time buying sex. >> i got off work today and i tried to experiment a little. >> once arrested, police say a man like this has only one concern, keeping his wife in the dark about his so-called experiment. >> she going to find out? >> huh? >> is she going to find out? >> well, they've got a lot to lose. most of them are married. most of them have children. they're doing this, you know -- of course, they're going to say it's the first time, but there's

no way it's the first time, because most people don't get caught the first time they do anything wrong. and they're all apologetic and they are sorry, but they're sorry they got caught. >> in cook county, the law gives johns like this a choice -- fight the case in court or pay a steep fine and have the arrest wiped from their record. >> we'll talk about it. >> we have the ability to write tickets for these guys. it costs them $500, we tow their car, it's another $500. so with the total, it's about $1,270. the money we get from the fine goes right to the women's justice program. >> if you want to pay, you come here. >> and these guys, right away, almost all of them pay within 24 hours, cash. >> okay? >> in keeping with the county's request for discretion, we have agreed to obscure the identities of the johns arrested today. >> i'm sorry. >> it is what it is. i don't judge. >> i've had some discussions with some of the men that we've brought into custody. it's abundantly clear to me that

they -- if they're going to continue to do this, and i have no way of knowing what they're going to do for rest of their life, they're certainly not coming around our area. >> walk straight up. >> a lot of people are thinking twice about what they're doing. it's not worth having their entire life thrown out there. >> in the two years since cook county started slapping fines on johns, they have generated more than $100,000 for the women's justice program, and they have yet to encounter a repeat offender. detectives now turn their attention to the woman in custody. we'll call her jenny. >> what kind of tatis you got? >> i've got a snake right here. >> as a resident of minnesota, jenny tells police she's been in chicago for about a month. >> how did you get here? >> a friend dropped me off. >> police suspect jenny may be trafficked, but she's reluctant to open up about her situation. >> how many dates do you have today? >> this is my first one. >> how many do you have planned to do? >> none. >> i am not trying to trick you

into saying anything. it's got nothing to do with why we've got you here. we're trying to ascertain right now if you need any help. that's what we're trying to do because we can put you in touch with people that can help you out. simple, right? >> slowly but surely, commander anton begins to break the ice. >> got any kids? >> one. >> learning that the woman has left a 3-year-old son behind in minnesota and that she travels a lot. >> just -- well, i've been everywhere. like, chicago, detroit, texas. >> details that deepen his suspicion that she is being trafficked. >> i'm 27. i like to live life. >> yeah, but in order to live a life, you've got to have a job. people have a misconception. if you're not coming from out of the country, china, thailand or somewhere else, then you're not a victim of trafficking. if you use threat or coercion, you're being trafficked. when's the last time you saw your son? how long ago was that? the manipulation is so great

that a lot of these pimps won't even be in the state. we have girls come from texas, we have girls come from minnesota, girls come from iowa. and they won't even be in the state. >> how are you supposed to get back? >> which would leave you to believe, how could you be that manipulated? but again, the girls might have something hanging over their head, like for instance, a lot of the pimps will get the girls pregnant. they have the baby. now the baby's with the pimp's people or his parents, so now you can't get out, because you're worried about the baby. and they'll use that as coercion. >> you're going to have to talk to someone right now. it's not going to be law enforcement. it's going to be someone that helps people that are in situations like yourself, all right? >> with over 20,000 women being sold for sex across chicagoland, sheriff tom dard realized arrest and jail time did nothing to stem the revolving door of women flooding the system. >> a police officer would arrest someone for prostitution and they would be back on the street before the police officer filled out their paperwork. literally, by the time you were done, they had bonded out and

they didn't just go home for the night. they would go back out to the street again. >> my name is brenda. and your name is? >> in 2008, sheriff dart started hiring counselors, like brenda powell, to connect women with social services and help them get out of the life. >> the hardest thing for women who are involved in this is to see that they are victims. they don't look at themselves as victims, okay? so, you don't have a pimp? >> no. >> brenda is not just a counselor, she's a former prostitute with 25 years in the game. and even though jenny admits nothing, brenda can tell she's being pimped out. >> girlfriend, her husband, her kids. so, you're going to be staying with your girlfriend, her husband and her kids, right? >> yeah. >> and the girlfriend and the girlfriend's kids and the girlfriend's man, you know, that's not a normal relationship. that's how i used to live with my pimp and my wife-in-laws. we all lived with him and we would do anything for him. you can benefit from kicking it with me. >> in the jargon of the

underground sex trade, wife-in-laws are the women working in a pimp's stable. the pimp is the daddy and the whole group, including children, is called the family. >> but i know how the game goes, because i was in the game for 25 years. ip know that it ain't easy to get up out of this game. >> a huge rule is not to snitch. a huge rule is not to talk about what goes on in that family. any systems that come at her trying to damage that family system is an enemy. also, i can help you with all kinds of services to help you get a job. >> for now, brenda can see that jenny is not ready to accept the help that the women's justice program can offer, but brenda has opened a lifeline tonight, and she will be there for jenny if and when jenny is ready to change her life. >> give me a hug. >> thank you. >> mm-hmm. but one thing that i do leave them with, i don't care what happens tonight. later on, give me a call. she's ready to go back.

i can stand here with her. just let me know you're okay. and i do get calls from all over the country. they say, hey, you remember me? you talked to me at that place? i know it's late, but you got a minute? and i have to take a minute to listen to her, because that's something that no one is doing. no one's listening, but i do. i will listen. >> do your parents know where you are? >> no, they don't know where i'm at. they know what i'm doing, though. i'm grown. i've been on my own tigers? don't be modest. i see how you've been investing. setting long term goals. diversifying. dip! you got our attention. we did? of course. you're type e* well, i have been researching retirement strategies. well that's what type e*s do. welcome home. taking control of your retirement? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?

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it's just after 2:00 p.m. in chicago, and as the mercury outside rises to 98, action inside heats up for cook county investigators. >> hi, alexis, how are you doing? >> the unit now prepares to move in on a young woman advertising herself as an out-of-town special. >> i was hoping you were available for a date this morning. >> uv veteran dan plays the decoy and rescuers a date. >> okay. no problem. i'm going to head that way.

i'm probably like 15-20 minutes from there, okay? >> the out-of-town target, a self-proclaimed sicilian latina hottie, alexis sweets, whose backpage ad promises men pleasure and delight for the night for $160 an hour. >> 90 west. >> working as backup, officer bob follows deik-off dan to an undisclosed location. >> just right up here. and then i'm going towards algonquin. >> all right. i'm just going to follow you. >> detective bob explains this in-call operation is a more complicated game of cat-and-mouse. the seller of sex is completely in charge. >> they tell you the general vicinity where they want you to go. you get to that spot or that intersection, then you have to recontact them and then they'll give you the hotel that they're at, or the motel. >> call girls like alexis don't give up their precise location tomorrow two reasons -- one, it

insures the john is close and ready to do the deal. and two, it gives pimps or women time to check them out. >> it's room 327, and she's watching out the window. she saw me pull in. 327. >> within minutes of arriving at the hotel, dan signals that a deal for sex has been made. alexis has offered oral sex and intercourse in exchange for $250. >> we're coming in. >> okay. >> officers quickly i.d. alexis sweets as 21-year-old chanelle velasquez of california. >> okay, and you're on backpage, right? you posted yourself. >> yes, sir. >> with the click of a mouse, internet website backpage makes it possible for this sacramento college student to sell herself 2,000 miles from home. >> okay, you're under arrest for prostitution. we're going to take you in. >> calm and cooperative, chanelle claims she operates alone. >> are you using a lot of your computer to post? how are you posting?

>> i'm either posting on that computer or i have my best friend post from her iphone or i post from my iphone. >> a quick search of the internet reveals, thanks to backpage, alexis sweets has logged a lot of miles. chanelle tells police she commutes from california to chicago because there is a higher demand for latino women in the windy city. >> how did you get this money? >> some of it i already had and some of it i made. >> okay, we're going to count it, all right? you have $408. can you count that? >> sheriff dart says backpage knows all too well that their site is used for pimps and traffickers, not just people giving massages. >> we have arrested upwards of 500 people. they've all been in response to ads about massages and the like. and guess what? every single one of them have been prostitutes. now, come on. i couldn't conceivably be that

lucky, that i get all the prostitutes. i keep missing the masseuses. it's just inconceivable. >> before officers transport chanelle to lockup, they tell her to prepare for what will be a long day in jail. >> your room key is in here, right? i saw it. >> it's clear this california girl knows the drill. this is her third arrest in two years. >> okay, we're all set. come on. come here. >> while being cuffed, chanelle wonders aloud if other women selling sex in the hotel will also be arrested. >> do you know who they are? >> i don't know who they are. i don't know them. i just had dated a guy who said that there's a girl upstairs. >> oh, yeah? >> they're like, older women, though, i guess. >> well, we'll check it out. >> do your parents know where they are? >> no, they don't know where i'm at, but they know what i do, though. i'm a grown girl and i've been on my own since i was little. >> during the walk of shame across the parking lot, chanelle plays the cool customer, but on the ride to lockup, she begins to tell police an all-too-familiar story. struggling to make ends meet on

minimum wage, she was lured into prostitution by a smooth-talking romeo pimp. >> well, he lied, though. he sold me a dream and told me that he would make sure that i have everything that i need. >> well, that's how they get you. >> well, yeah, i know. >> they always promise you everything, and then in reality, you get nothing. >> you get nothing. like, i ended up making like, $20,000, maybe almost $35,000 for him. >> chanelle says after being beaten badly by her pimp in los angeles, she ran and has been on her own for over a year. >> a lot of times, the girls start working and then a pimp approaches them on the street. well, in her case, she's claiming that she never worked before. >> dan finds chanelle's story especially tragic. >> if a girl chose to work and she's out there working and she eventually gets picked up by a pimp, that's terrible. but the girls who start working and get recruited, those are the worst ones. >> dan heads out to play decoy.

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hi, i'm richard lui with your hour's top stories. former president george w. bush told "face the nation" there's a 50/50 chance his younger brother, jeb, would run in 2016. the former president said he hopes his brother runs and that he would be one of his biggest supporters. and the nfl players association is demanding the league reinstate peterson. they're saying the suspension should be lifted since his child abuse case has been resolved with a plea deal taken tuesday. now back to "nbc undercover."

hey, is megan there? >> every day in america, tens of thousands of people go online looking to buy and sell sex. >> yes. are you calling for a date? >> but sometimes, the voice on the other end of the line is an undercover cop. >> i think it's river and lawrence. >> investigators with the cook county human trafficking task force are en route to a location where an undercover officer has arranged a date for sex with a woman doing in calls from her motel room. >> once the officer's inside the room with the girl, they'll make the deal. we'll go to the room. they'll let us in, and then we'll arrest the girl for prostitution. >> police say this particular motel about a mile from the airport is frequently used as a rendezvous for buyers and sellers of sex. >> okay, we just got texted now that he's going to room 307. we'll give him a couple minutes to get up there.

>> inside room 307, the undercover has just made a deal for sex in exchange for $200. >> you have no identification, right? >> no. >> are you sure? >> the young woman has no identification, but she tells detectives that she's been arrested for prostitution before. she tells our producer that she doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. >> i don't think we should get in trouble for this at all. like, if my boyfriend gives me money and buys me stuff, i don't see any reason that a stranger can't do that, so, do the same thing to me. that's it. >> even when you arrest the girls, a lot of times, they're so well trained, especially the young ones, to talk about, no, it's my boyfriend, talking about the pimp or there's no force involved and this and that. so, when you start peeling back the layers, you find abuse, you find this person is a victim of trafficking. >> detectives are finishing up at the motel when they notice a curious couple hanging around room 307 and watching them work.

police suspect the pair may be connected to the girl in custody, so they decide to introduce themselves. >> have a seat for a minute. come here, come here. it's okay, baby. >> the woman has no identification, but she tells police she's 21 and lives in the neighboring state of wisconsin. police learn she is nine months pregnant and has a prior arrest for prostitution. >> how many months pregnant are you? >> i'm due, like, next week. >> she's due next week. >> okay. >> the couple denies any wrongdoing today, and police are unable to connect them to the earlier arrest in room 307. once the male is identified, he's free to go, but police can't release the young woman until she's identified. >> is that your boyfriend you're walking with? >> yeah. >> who's in the room? >> a friend of mine. i'm not in a room. >> jenna hack was uncooperative but was arrested for prostitution a month ago. the manager says she's been in the hotel for 23 days. >> what room is she staying in?

>> taking me to go and get rent money. >> 208. >> i don't have any. >> what's up in 208? >> it's not my room. >> there's no sign that jenna's selling sex today, but police say there is actually a high-dollar demand for sex with pregnant women. >> and she'll get guys. >> i'm not buying drk. >> what else were you arrested for? >> the young woman is eventually identified by the record of her previous arrest for prostitution. >> i'll meet you guys back over there. and you're pregnant, so don't be doing anything you're not supposed to do. >> police offer her the chance to speak with a crisis counselor from the women's justice program, but she declines and she is free to go. >> okay, so, what time are you looking at? >> back at the hotel, it's a little after 4:00 p.m. when business begins to pick up? >> getting off work, and they're

looking for maybe something to do before they go home. we can go from there. >> female undercovers have an unsuspecting john on the line. >> he's in the parking lot. now all they have to do is reel him in. >> turn around. >> turn around. >> turn around. >> put your hands behind your back. put your hands behind your back. >> inside the room, police find a big bear of a man with alcohol on his breath. detectives say he was hoping to party with all three women, but now the party is over. >> if you haven't noticed, we're running a prostitution sting right now. >> a resident of indiana, the man tells police he's in town on business. >> okay. >> detectives say they see his kind all the time. >> yes, sir. >> businessmen, doctors, lawyers, you know, career guys. >> and we've looked at the demographics. it's across the board. >> all right, we have got a guy coming up, guys.

economics doesn't make a difference, race doesn't make a difference. >> turn around. >> police. you're under arrest. turn around. >> age doesn't make a difference. from 18 all the way to, i think it was 74 years old. we arrested one guy last year, 74 years old. he's looking for sex from our undercover girl. i mean, the guy got out of surgery two weeks ago, bypass surgery, and he's out looking for a girl. >> this officer here's going to take care of you and tell you what's going to happen, okay? >> sex sales. men think about it all the time. it's just the manner of which they're going about obtaining it and the risk they're willing to take. >> they don't seem to care. they just -- most of them are married. most of them have families. most of them are businessmen. they all have jobs, you know, and they come and they just want to have a good time with someone in private and something discrete and nobody's going to know about it. >> his hand is going upstream. his hand is going upstream. >> police say that most johns don't think too deeply about all the consequences of buying sex until they get caught. >> police.

let me see your hands. >> they're looking for one thing. obviously, a guy's going to pay for sex, he's looking for that, sex. they don't see the ramifications of paying for someone and they don't see the outcome of a traffic victim. they don't -- i don't think they want to look at that. if they realize what's going on in this girl's life, her background, the physical, emotional abuse she's getting now from the pimp, i think they'd have a different understanding of what it is. >> and while police may not be able to make johns feel the pain of women trapped in the underground sex trade, they can make them feel a pain deep in their own wallets. >> this is a nice wallet. is this leather? is this a leather wallet? this is nice. >> it became clear that in certain areas of town, the people looking for prostitutes, they'd better not go there, because it's a strong possibility it might be us. and if it is, we have this whole menu of things we can and will do to you, starting with really making you poor. >> this is the fine.

this is if you decide you don't want to pay the fine, okay? >> i think collectively, we've driven down the demand. people tell us that. but in addition, we utilize the people we've been dragging in to fund all of our programs to try to help the women who have been victimized. >> the average prostitute turns five to six, maybe ten tricks a day, right? how many trauma is that for her? i've had some of the girls say it feels like someone's using the bathroom inside of me. it comes in oral rinse, spray or gel, so there's moisturizing relief for everyone. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth.

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night, men continue to order girls to go with a simple click of a mouse. from anal sex to oral sex to 3-on-1, investigators say women and underaged girls are sold on websites like backpage. >> their entire site is existing so that traffickers and pimps can have a place to sell women. >> i'm fed up and i'm tired. and this is going to stop. >> in 2009, cook county sheriff tom dart was part of the legal effort to shut down the erotic services section of craigslist. >> just calling to see if you had anything available for today? >> now his troops are taking aim at backpage, which he says makes millions off the misery of others. >> if we had a website where people were putting on hits against their spouses, what, the website's going to sit there and say, well, we're not putting the hits on the spouses, we just set up the website? the fact these people are doing it. and then we are then telling law

enforcement. yeah, the problem is, by the time we get there, the people are dead already, so we'd rather you take the website down. i mean, come on. >> the cook county task force wants americans to know that online websites keep trafficked women insnared in a cycle of perpetual violence. >> they, like, went crazy. this dude put me in a choke-hold. >> while most might view the young women as tough individuals making bad choices, brenda myers-powell sees these women as the walking wounded, in desperate need of the public's empathy and intervention. >> i've had some of the girls say it feels like someone's using the bathroom inside of me. when did you start doing this regularly? the average prostitute turns five to six, maybe ten tricks a day, right? if you calculate five times 365, how many men has she slept with? over 1,800 men. how much trauma is that for her? i know about prostitution. i was a prostitute for 25 years.

and you have no idea what you're in for. >> brenda's own hard life lessons learned on the streets of chicago make her the perfect lifeline for girls and young women in crisis. >> in the beginning of my prostitution, i was an upscale prostitute. i had escorts, strip clubs, only the best. and at the end of the road, i was turning tricks on street corner for $20. >> like many women who fall into prostitution, brenda's own sexual experience began with rape as a child. >> being molested since i was 4 or 5 years old, constantly happening in the household that i lived in, from my grandmother to my aunt's house. every time i thought i was safe, i was never safe. >> raised by an alcoholic grandmother in housing projects on chicago's west side, her first exposure to prostitution was right outside her front door. >> me being 9 years old, living

in a community where prostitutes worked in front of our window, and looking out the window at the prostitutes getting in and out of the cars and have their shiny dresses on and be very beautiful, and asking my grandmother, what are those women doing? and she told me, those women take their panties off and men give them money. and me being relating to that, because men had been taking my panties off. and i said to myself, wow, i didn't know they were supposed to give me money. >> brenda says at 14, her grandmother encouraged her to sell herself in order to add money to the family purse. >> 1973, good friday. i proceeded to march on downtown and sit on the corner, and that night i made over $400. and those guys knew that i was a minor. they knew that i was young. they paid me more because i was young. >> after 25 years of surviving exploitation and violence, brenda was forced out of the life after a brutal attack by a

john almost killed her. >> again in a club with a customer who began to beat me up, to take his money back after we got through. and i tried to get out of the car to get away from him, and he started his car up and he was driving off. and as i tried to get away from him, my clothes caught hold to the door, and he drug me for six blocks and tore all the skin off my body, my face. >> disfigured and near death, brenda was taken to cook county hospital. there, she says she was pushed to the back of the line for treatment because she was a prostitute. >> i felt worthless. i felt that even people who were supposed to help me, who had took an oath to help people didn't want to help a prostitute. i wanted to die. >> now married with a family of her own, brenda says she is living proof that working girls like chanelle can turn their lives around with help and support.

>> chanelle, you are a beautiful, special girl. >> thanks. >> i can look in her eyes. i can talk to her and i can understand what she's feeling because i've been there. and the questions that come from me are not like the questions that come from the police. >> it takes just a few minutes for brenda to crack chanelle's tough girl act. >> i don't even remember what i was like before this. >> wow. >> i have no idea. i can't even think. i can't remember my personality or anything like that. >> wow. >> that's the worst part about it is that i won't ever be the same. i'm a different person, you know what i mean? i know how bad it is. like, i know some girls probably say or know some girls are on drugs and doing it, but i can honestly say, after meeting so many other girls that get down, i'm one of the smarter ones. i'm one of the smart ones, you know? i know that this is ridiculous. like, i never was meant to be a

ho. >> today, brenda devotes her time helping women make the same choice she did, to leave the life. >> give me a hug. >> her goal, make a human connection and give women hope that there is a real way out. >> give me a real hug, no fake hug. >> so that next time the women are thrown a lifeline, they just might take it. >> thank you for talking to me. >> if i take prostitution away from you, i have to offer you everything in place of that. and when i say everything, i'm talking about a place to stay, food, clothing, all of your basic human needs have to be met. they need to feel safe. >> don't you want to have a family of your own some day? >> i do. >> relax, okay, sweetie? >> okay. >> don't get nervous or anything, okay? >> can i just ask you, are you being trafficked or is the money going elsewhere or are you keeping it? >> it's all me.

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as night falls in chicago, the day's stifling heat gives way to thunder and lightning and a cold, hard rain flushing the streets. >> police. how you doing? >> how you doing, sweetheart? >> put your clothes on, sweetie. >> today's investigation by the cook county human trafficking task force continues to uncover women from all across america. >> so what am i going to be under arrest for? >> prostitution. >> we had a girl from minnesota, we had a girl from wisconsin. only one girl here from chicago, we think. >> yeah, that's it. >> and it says a lot for the girls putting themselves on the back page. they're not staying in one location. they're moving around and they have people around them moving them around, too. >> the team is about to pack it in when they get one last visit from a woman hoping to trade sex for cash. >> relax, okay, sweetie? >> okay. >> don't be nervous or anything, okay?

>> 23-year-old jessica sansui is more than 600 miles away from her home in arkansas. >> is this all you have on? >> yeah. >> this high school graduate tells the police that this is her first run-in with the law. >> ever been arrested before? >> no. >> ever? for anything? >> no. >> really? >> no. >> how long you been working? >> not that long. >> how long wow been in town? >> for about three weeks. >> where are you staying at? >> at a friend's house. >> among jessica's belongings police find condoms, receipts for stays in high-end hotels, and more than $500 in cash. they suspect she may be trafficked but she insists that she is acting alone. >> can i just ask you, are you being trafficked or is the money going elsewhere -- >> it's all me. >> are you sure? >> yes. my decision. >> when asked about the plight of other women in the life, jessica says it is simply a matter of free will. >> it's what they want to do.

>> the majority of those women who are being controlled, they would never tell you that. but i hear things that a lot of times, in interviews, other people don't hear. >> come in, have a seat. my name is brenda. >> while jessica is noncompliant another young woman opens up to brenda, revealing she is in crisis. >> i don't want to go on tv. if anyone sees my face, i could get killed. >> okay. because i don't know what's going on, but i feel you, okay? >> the 22-year-old tells brenda she's been working for a pimp from new york who, despite his distance, controls her every move. >> the guy you're with now, how did you meet him, your pimp? >> she was recruited by another woman in new york. her situation was bad anyway, already. >> when she met me i was -- i

had like $20 to my name. >> she said she knew what she was doing was not right but she could not get out of it because she didn't have a pot to piss in if she didn't have prostitution. yes, she had family, but her family had given up on her a long time ago. >> i've never been able to ask anyone for help. since i was 13, ever. and i was not able to keep up the charade of my parents pretending to be a christian, pretending to be straight and by the time i went to college everything fell apart. >> the daughter of missionaries, anna dropped out of college and hopped a plane to america, hoping to find work with a modeling agency in new york. but what she found instead turned out to be a trafficking operation. >> and they flew you out to cali, got your hair done, put you on a website, and they've been prostituting you out ever since?

>> uh-huh. >> do you get any of the money? >> the women that brought her there was threatening her, every day calling her, telling her, we're watching you. you can't move. we have people that will come and get you. >> she's absolutely -- i thought she was going to kill me. she's left me like 27 text messages saying she's going to kill me. >> that's the brain [ muted ]. that's the brain [ muted ] that they have, that they use to have you brainwashed so that you don't go. right? been there, done that okay? >> after 25 years in the game, brenda knows all too well how hard it is for girls like anna to walk away from their pimps. >> you know a lot of people think this is something they just settle for that, but actually, these women are in survival mode. >> just tired of being scared all the time. >> you don't have any peripheral vision. all you see is -- your tunnel

vision tells you these people are right here and this is what i see and this is who i am and i can't get away. >> do you want to be with this pimp? >> and it's not physical bondage, it's mental bondage. if someone can control your mind it can control you. this is what traffickers and pimps and predators do. they control you mentally. >> i don't want anyone to find you, okay? you hear me? but i can get you somewhere very safe. you hear me? where you'll be safe. where you'll be protected. where no one will bother you. we will get -- listen. this is what i do for a living. okay? >> at least for tonight, anna's traffickers have met their match in brenda powell. >> i could not sleep tonight if i let you go back there. you understand? >> her hard life lessons ring loud and clear in the younger woman's ears. >> i just want you to be safe, okay? >> at last, anna sees genuine

opportunity to get away from her pimp and agrees to take refuge in a shelter for girls and women struggling to escape prostitution. >> do you want to let me do that? that's all i wanted to hear. give me a hug. you ain't going nowhere. you know, sometimes i believe that things happen for a reason and it's divine intervention. and i feel that's what just happened right now. >> brenda says there's no guarantees that today's intervention will turn anna's life around. but at least for tonight, anna will be safe and warm, securing shelter from the storm of the underground sex trade. >> we're trying to find that piece of them that's left. the best of what's the best of them. so we can help them bring it out. because they're not a lost cause.

from the mean streets of chicago's south side -- >> don't do me like that, man. >> -- to the affluent suburbs of schaumburg, illinois -- >> let's go. >> -- the underground sex trade is booming in the midwest. >> gang members are no longer selling sex any longer. they're selling children. >> all the young girls were branded. >> they are literally slaves. >> you know what's going to happen then, right? >> but what are the real human costs for the women that service this billion-dollar industry?