Transcription
When my daughter Hope was young, she was a straight-A student. I was a normal, regular kid. I loved to do theater, soccer, and cheerleading. Hope was filled with innocence, joy, and ambition.
When I was 14, my whole life changed. My daughter Hope was kidnapped by sex traffickers. Hope was forced into prostitution. It all started because I posted on a social media site that I hated my mother. A woman messaged me back, telling me that folks stayed with her and we'd go partying. She showed up within the next 45 minutes, and I was gone.
The suspects target girls who post comments about a negative home life on social media sites and chat rooms. The 1400 I hate my mom, she doesn't understand me, I can't wait to get out of here. That's how police say William Jacobs and Sheila Williams met a young North Texas victim who was just 14 years old.
I walked into the motel room and saw a man sitting in the corner. The first thing that came out of his mouth was, "Take off your clothes so we can take these pictures." I said no—nothing to take my clothes off. He said, "So you want to do this the hard way?" He hit me a couple of times, and I was out like a light.
I woke up in the closet. The closet that I was in was a good size. After they took me out of the closet, they took crushed-up pills and forced them down my throat. After they force-fed me pills, I would try to move my body, but I couldn't. I felt catatonic. After they drugged me, I had my first client.
Hope says she knew if she wanted to make it, she had to find a way to cope in order to survive. "My kidnapping, I had to create an alter ego. They told me that my name wasn't Hope; it was Sophia. So that's the name that I took on. Sophia is the girl that walks with her head high. She was the one who dealt with all the clients, the Johns, and the beatings."
When I was with the traffickers, they never fed me. My source of food would be picking it out of the trash and drinking the water from the faucet. I bit my nails a lot. One time, I was taking a shower, and he busted it open and beat me with a belt because I locked the door.
A couple is accused of trafficking the teen in eight different states in only a three-week period. The traffickers made me sleep with men in each state—over 20 men a day. I could never be Hope again after that. I was never going to be the same girl.
Hope's mother says her daughter's terrifying ordeal claimed more than one victim. She says at times she feels just as traumatized as her daughter. She also says before today, Hope has never wanted to share her story or any specific details about what happened.
"Hope is not the only victim. I'm the victim. During the time Hope was gone, I got lost. It took a lot of strain on my job and my relationship with my other kids. It was an emotional roller coaster. I tried to make up with any financial aid for Hope to compensate for what she went through, but I really couldn't even afford it.
Like, she called me and said, 'Mom, I need to come up there.' I'm like, 'Are you coming to school? Are you going to finish your school?' Because you know that's the only reason why I will let you back in. But you're not willing to do that. So then you call me and tell me you're hungry and need money. If I had it like that, maybe. But when I'm 60 years old, is she going to still come to me and say, 'I need $200'? What's going to happen when something happens to me, and I don't have the financial means to take care of myself?
Don't we all have to work for our retirement? Don't we all have to save for our future? If I'm constantly coming out, don't you think that I'm a little bit discouraged? Don't you think that I'm a little bit worried about me? I love Hope, but she's not the only victim."
"I hope I'm glad you're here, Israel. I'm glad you're here. You seem to be very traumatized by what happened to your daughter. Tell me about that."
"I know the things that she shared with you traumatized me in a manner that it was difficult. But about the Hope proceedings, you know, it was about helping her and wanting to do the right thing. But every time anybody reached out to her to help her when she was returned, if it was not under those circumstances that she felt were deemed appropriate or that she wanted, she would resist. So it became a struggle."