We have all seen these posts. You know, the ones where someone tells a story about being at Walmart (or Target) and some weird guy (occasionally a girl) liked the person’s child and then proceeded to follow them around the store, usually on a phone speaking to someone in another language.
Well we finally have one of these in Ebensburg. Here is the post:
ATTENTION EVERYONE: There are friends here who have posted warnings about child trafficking and experiences that they have had. This is VERY REAL, and it is HERE. This time, it hit very close to home for me. A niece of a friend of our family was shopping at Walmart in Ebensburg and had her 2-year-old daughter in the cart. The little girl dropped her teddybear on the floor, and a man picked it up and gave it to her. He went on and on about how beautiful the little girl was. Throughout the remainder of their shopping trip, every aisle they went to…LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE AISLE…he was there. When she was all finished shopping, she went to her car and put her little girl in the car. She then proceeded to put her groceries in the trunk of the car, when she she looked up and HE WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE. She asked him who he was so infatuated with, her or her daughter, because of how he followed her everywhere in the store, and now there he stood at her car. He just smiled at her. Thankfully, she has a permit to carry a gun, and she was carrying one. She pulled out her gun and told him that she suggests that he leave her and her daughter alone, and that is when he finally left. Obviously, we all do our best to watch our children, but I am just emphasizing the importance of being extra VIGILANT, because this is very real, and it is here. We have a backpack leash for Elizabeth because we believe we can never be too careful, and we keep an extra strong eye on Alex, too, because these “people” aren’t just interested in 2-year olds.
First, why do most of these posts have the person barely making it to their car. Why not go to the manager? Or yell for an associate? Walmart has some pretty intense security to watch for shoplifters. They aggressively prosecute. I read somewhere that their program looks for suspicious patterns by certain shoppers (so if you keep going back to an aisle to look at something, you could be flagged and someone will come over and ask if you need any help).
So if you really believe you are being followed. Start going back to aisles you were already in and get the attention of security. Or, just leave the aisle you are in and go to the feminine hygiene products. If the dude shows up there, then you know something is weird. Yell loudly “hey man, why you following me?” I am sure an employee will hear you and come to check things out.
Secondly, if you read this post, the woman pulls a gun on the person. Did she call the police after the guy ran away? If she was scared enough to threaten to shoot a person, why not let the police know so that they can maybe question the guy?
These stories always mention the creepy person following worried parent around every aisle. Is that shocking though? Have you ever been to a grocery store? If you go up and down the aisles, there is a good chance that you will be stuck with the same people. Unless you shop like I do, go to just the stuff you are buying…no need to browse.
This particular story also adds another element: guns. This definitely feels like someone who is very pro-gun may have modified one of these stories to show how a gun and a permit to carry saved a mother and her children. I bet a bunch of women in this area read this and said “maybe I should start carrying.”
Instead of me mocking these type of posts (well more than I already have), I decided to ask a friend for some help. J.J. Hensley is an award-winning novelist and former Secret Service agent and police officer. He is the perfect person to ask about this sort of thing.
Me: Is child sex trafficking in the United States what people think? Are people kidnapping babies and toddlers and selling them overseas?
J.J. Hensley: The complexities of child sex trafficking are made even more complicated by the fact it is approached differently throughout the world. For instance, there has been a recent story in the news about a mother who sold a daughter in order for the rest of her family to eat. Then there are cultures in which not only are arraigned marriages common, but child marriage is found to be acceptable. But when discussing child trafficking in the U.S., there does not appear to be any evidence of abductions with the intent of selling persons overseas. When one takes a moment to think about it, the prospects of such operations being performed successfully are extremely low. Imagine trying to forcibly abduct an individual, keep him/her secreted, and then transporting that individual overseas. This isn’t Hollywood. There aren’t unsecured cargo ships waiting at the docks where people can be tossed into a crate and hidden from sight for a long journey across the ocean.
Me: Have law enforcement agencies actually investigated these stories? Whether it be at a Walmart, Target, Costco, or wherever?
J.J. Hensley: All anyone has to do is do an internet search for the terms “abduction, Walmart, child trafficking” and the search results make it clear law enforcement agencies have investigated these claims and have not found any corroboration. That’s not to say people shouldn’t stay vigilant, but the claims that people are being snatched from IKEA and whisked away for sex trafficking don’t seem to have any validity. In general, sex traffickers target the most vulnerable among us. They target the homeless, the abused, the abandoned, the addicted. Their hunting grounds are not monitored areas filled with people from all walks of life.
Me: Is this a case of mass hysteria? It reminds me of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.
J.J. Hensley: It’s probably a bit of hysteria amplified by the use of social media. When I was listening to Motley Crue in the 1980s and MTV was showing music videos (ah, remember those days?) that contained images of pentagrams or demons, or worse… David Lee Roth, parents would worry and they might gossip at PTA meetings, but your average soccer mom couldn’t go on Facebook and post a video in which they claim some “shady-looking foreign guy” followed her and her child around Target for twenty minutes. This isn’t to downplay the fact there are threats out there and people do get followed and dangers are out there. But, there simply isn’t any evidence that sex traffickers are hanging out a retail stores filled with cameras.
Thank you Mr. Hensley for your help!
So please, stop sharing these posts. I am not saying you should not be mindful of your surroundings. There are dangers out there, but thinking there are sex traffickers in every single store just makes no sense.
