“Unshackled by Love” fighting human trafficking

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — The controversy surrounding the Derby winner isn’t the only big thing coming out of Louisville.

The Derby is well-known to bring in a lot of human trafficking. Over the weekend, police arrested four men – now accused of it.

Police say 13 potential human trafficking victims were saved during the Derby.

But now that the Derby is over, a group called “Unshackled by Love” (UBL) wants you to remember this issue is still just as real, happening each and every day around us.

“So the Derby’s come, the Derby’s gone. We don’t want to wait a whole year for people to go ‘Oh the Derby is back, the Super Bowl is back. Let’s think about human trafficking’,” says Jewellan Morrison, the founder of UBL.

The message she wants to get out is human trafficking does not discriminate.

“It’s not prejudice. It’s not just at the Super Bowl, it’s not just at the Derby. It could literally be just at our back door. And it’s still the second largest organized crime in the United States,” explains Morrison.

She says she celebrates the fact this past weekend in Louisville 13 potential victims were saved, but how many do we still not know about. She calls it heartbreaking.

UBL is a safehouse for women who have overcome human trafficking and substance abuse, which often goes hand and hand.

Katelyn Bartlett, an “overcomer” herself at UBL, can attest to this.

“I literally didn’t think I could ever quit drugs and I sold my body to support that addiction. Me and my dad lost our house so I became homeless so literally the only way I could eat was have sex with men.”>

Katelyn is open about her story because she wants to show just how very real this issue is and there is help dedicated to people like her – something she didn’t know at the time.

“I have like hope for my future again and when I was living that lifestyle I had no hope. My soul was like dead. And I let these men control and abuse me because I didn’t think there was a life outside of that,” says Bartlett.

Morrison says signs of human trafficking can be someone with branding on their arms, a man or woman really close to the victim at all times, and her head may be down and she won’t make eye contact.

These are all ways to notice human trafficking.