The fight against youth sex trafficking: Big Country agencies unite to combat nationwide threat

TAYLOR COUNTY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Since 2019, the Regional Victim Crisis Center has been working with The Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s Child Sex Trafficking Team to expand their staff and capabilities regarding sex trafficking of those 24 years and younger.

All that work and training culminated in the announcement and signing of documents on Wednesday, March 12. 15 local and state entities are joining forces to improve each agency’s ability to identify, bring justice, and care for victims of sex trafficking in the Big Country.

“It is a privilege to have the governor’s team behind this important work…I always say we’ve been doing it forever. RVCC for 47 years. But we’ve never done it alone,” said RVCC Executive Director Janey Wawerna.

Veronica Lowenberg, West Texas Regional Advisor for the Office of the Texas Governor’s Sex Trafficking Team, attended the signing and congratulated and thanked the Taylor County agencies involved.

“The Office of the Governor’s Sex Trafficking Team is pleased to celebrate the launch of Taylor County’s Coordinated Response to support children and youth who have been victimized by commercial sexual exploitation,” Lowenberg said.

While many of these entities have been working together for years in one form or another, the signing and announcement officially formalize this network. Taylor County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Craig Griffis explained how this network will benefit all involved agencies.

“Think of a puzzle. Each entity had pieces of that puzzle, and we didn’t know that the other entities had pieces of our puzzle. Now, with care coordination, we can bring all of those puzzle pieces together into one place and assemble it to make the picture and hold the people who are responsible accountable,” said Griffis.

In addition to the local entities, Lowenberg said that Taylor County Care Coordination will include involvement from a ‘multi-disciplinary team of service providers, investigators, and prosecutors working diligently with survivors on each child and youth sexual exploitation case in Taylor County and will be facilitated by Regional Victim Crisis Center.’