Human sex trafficking is a relatively new term in Oklahoma.

Now victims, who managed to escape, are taking shelter in the Tulsa area.

Wilma Lively, Executive Director of DaySpring Villa, says she never heard the term human sex trafficking until a couple of years ago.

She tells KRMG, “My first response was that doesn’t happen in Oklahoma. That only happens in foreign countries.

The shelter has been helping victims of domestic violence for years.

This year the state lawmakers gave the shelter the certification needed to add victims of human sex trafficking.

“Since April, we have had 15 women and three of them have had two children each.”

The children are sometimes used to keep the woman as sex slaves.

The captors threaten to hurt the kids if the woman doesn’t do exactly what she’s told.

Lively says one of the victims at the shelter got roped into the sex trafficking trade when she thought she was going to start a new job at a motel.

“And then when she gets to the motel, they take all of her clothing and take her children away from her and then she is forced to stay.”
The shelter is set up to feel as much like a home as possible.

The bathroom is one of the most beautiful rooms in the old building.

Tulsa comedian Rodney Carrington donated the money for that renovation.

Before that, the restroom was so run down that the workers didn’t even like to use it.

If you want to help, call the shelter at 918-245-4075.