DENVER — January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, which has served as a chance to raise awareness about the nuanced crime for the past 15 years.
In Denver, human trafficking is more prevalent than may be expected.
"We know that human trafficking is happening everywhere. It's happening right now in downtown Denver. It's happening online. It's happening in schools. It's happening all over the country. But we often don't understand that it is happening, and we're unable to identify that," said Ashley Morgan, who leads the Human Trafficking Unit within the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Every day, Morgan works with investigators from the DA's office, officers from the Denver Police Department, and various task forces to investigate and eventually prosecute human trafficking cases.
“In layman's terms, if you recruit someone, harbor someone, encourage someone, help someone, become involved in commercial sex or in labor, and you force them to do that through coercive means," Morgan said, explaining the broad definition that encompasses human trafficking. “That can mean threatening them, as in, 'I'm going to kill you or hurt you if you don't do this,' up to, 'I will withhold drugs from you if you're dependent on them and not allow you to have those drugs.' It could be taking identification documents from people. It could be saying, 'I'm going to call and get you deported if you don't do this.'"
Morgan explained some of the challenges prosecutors face when it comes to human trafficking cases.
“Victims and survivors are often completely reliant upon their trafficker. They're afraid to go to law enforcement for a variety of reasons. They're afraid of the violence that could result if they were to leave their trafficker," Morgan said. “One really important thing to make clear is that often our survivors are engaged in illegal activity. That's not something that we're typically concerned with. What we're concerned with is the fact that they're being victimized."
When prosecutors are approaching a trial, they work to establish a case without needing a victim or survivor to testify, gathering as much evidence as they can.
“Unfortunately, that's not always the best way to proceed on a trial, right? Sometimes victims have to testify, but we are very upfront with our victims from the very get-go about what all of this would look like, and we very much want them to feel invested and excited about being part of the process. And if they're not, we take that into consideration and have very thoughtful and candid conversations with them," Morgan said.
State
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An exact estimate of how many people are being trafficked within Denver is difficult to pinpoint, according to Morgan, since many times the crime is not reported.
“There's many, many people being trafficked because of Denver's location and the transportation corridors we have here. It's very easy to get into DIA and move across the state," Morgan said. “We have people that are coming to Denver from all different parts of the country in what is called circuits. So people are working in Los Angeles, and then Houston, and then Denver, and then Oklahoma City, you name it. A lot of these major cities. And it is typical in the commercial sex area for these survivors to be moved around between these different places.”
Since establishing the Human Trafficking Unit within the Denver District Attorney's Office, the number of cases related to the crime has increased. Morgan believes that's largely due to having more prosecutors dialed into the topic.
“Back seven years ago, before our office actually had a dedicated unit, we weren't seeing as many human trafficking cases filed because if you're a prosecutor working a lot of different types of cases and an investigator working different cases, you don't have the ability to focus in on a human trafficking case that is incredibly complicated," Morgan said.
Morgan said labor trafficking can occur in industries like restaurants and hotels, as well as sheep herding or farming communities. Sex trafficking normally begins with recruiting on social media, Morgan said.
“We assume that trafficking looks like abducting someone and pulling them away. Okay, that is not often how trafficking actually occurs in the United States, and in Denver in particular. The coercive ways that people are drawn into this lifestyle are much more complicated and dynamic than that," said Morgan. "It's not only women. It's women, children, men — all different communities — are potentially vulnerable populations. But the level of coercion often starts with potentially just a romantic relationship, where an individual believes that there's love and commitment, and then it turns into, 'Well, why don't you engage in commercial sex for me?' And then it eventually becomes that the person can't leave for a variety of different reasons.”
Crime
Colorado man sentenced to 448 years in prison in human trafficking case
One person caught in the cycle of coercion was Jade, who spoke with Denver7 using an alias.
"You meet a stranger who you think is interested in you, who loves you, and it turns into a very dark story, unfortunately," Jade explained.
Jade said she is a survivor of sex trafficking.
“In the beginning, I was ignored. I wasn't treated as highly as I thought I was. I wasn't able to do certain things, speak to family, go to see family. I was very much under a strict schedule," Jade said. “I was definitely isolated."
It was extreme for Jade, who was forced into a world where every decision was dictated.
“I was on a very strict workout plan. I was up [at] 9 a.m. working out, and then I had a specific diet that I had to follow. I had specific ways, how I was supposed to dress and look and talk. I was taught every day on how to speak," Jade recalled. “I was rewarded for, you know, doing the most."
The coercion lasted for roughly a decade, according to Jade. When she tried to escape, there were people instantly searching for her.
“I got harmed when I was there. When I would try to leave, it was a fight," said Jade.
Working with the Denver District Attorney's Office, and an organization called From Silenced to Saved, which supports survivors through the court process, Jade feels she has taken her power back.
“I would like to close the chapter and write a new book," Jade said. "There's people out there that will listen to you. There's people out there that will help you.”
Jade is one of a handful of victims connected to William Galbreath, who accepted a plea deal for human trafficking with a stipulated sentence of 21 years in prison.
Galbreath initially pleaded guilty to pimping in 2020 and was sentenced to four years of probation. While on probation, Galbreath "allegedly identified multiple vulnerable women, coerced them to engage in commercial sex with promises of large sums of money, and created fake businesses to launder the proceeds of the commercial sex." He was then charged by the Denver District Attorney's Office in 2023.
"He [pleaded] guilty to pimping, and he got a probationary sentence, which was very unfortunate, but our laws in Colorado need some strengthening," Morgan said about Galbreath's case from 2020. “This individual was trafficking multiple other victims while he was on probation.”
Galbreath is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19.
Denver District Attorney John Walsh said their Human Trafficking Unit is the largest of its kind in Colorado.
“[Former District Attorney] Beth McCann put together a number of really important programs in this office, and the Human Trafficking Unit is something she started, and I'm 100% committed to continuing that in a city the size of Denver," said Walsh.
One of the longest — if not the longest — sentences for a human trafficking conviction in the United States was handed down in Colorado last summer.
Robert Earl Hawkins was sentenced to 448 years in prison for the series of charges against him involving human trafficking of both adults and juveniles. Walsh said sentences like that send a strong message.
“All too often, the case is that the people who are engaged in human trafficking really don't think they're ever going to be held responsible, and if they are held responsible, they don't think they're going to get a significant sentence," said Walsh. “One of the really tremendous things that the team here at the Denver DA's Office has been able to do is to hold those perpetrators responsible and ensure that they get hit with sentences that not only take them off the street so they're not harming other people, but have an enormous deterrent effect on others.”
If you or someone you know needs help, you are not alone. You can call Colorado’s Human Trafficking Hotline at 866-455-5075 or text 720-999-9724.
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