Human trafficking is everywhere, including in Blair County.
It was the topic of a recent presentation at the Blair County Chamber of Commerce’s Committee on NonProfit Businesses, Best Practices Forum.
Guest speaker Ashley Owens, Children’s Advocacy Center director at Family Services Inc., said it is hard to tell how big the problem is here.
“We have heard from survivors that the Altoona area is a place there has been trafficking because we were not looking for it. Now we are working to spread education and trying to notice red flags to notice situations as trafficking. Blair County, since 2014, has had four arrests for human trafficking including the (Stephen) Apostolu case,” Owens said. “We have been able to identify children who are victims of human trafficking that didn’t reach the court system. We know it is there but are not sure how prevalent it is. No one has come forward saying they are a victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking is not what you see in Ho