In light of the release of Sound of Freedom, exposing child sex trafficking, we decided to return to an old article detailing another organization on the front lines—Phantom Rescue. Sound of Freedom follows the real-life efforts of Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad to save trafficked children. Like Ballard, Phantom Rescue has a similar goal of working to rid the world of human trafficking. This is Phantom Rescue’s story.

The Hard Realities of Child Sex Trafficking

She sat in the corner of a dark room, crying as voices echoed down the hallway. She had lost track of time and place and wasn’t even sure if she was still in the United States. All she remembered was running away from home after her 16th birthday. It was immediately a cold and lonely existence with few friends on the street.

When she met Claire, it seemed so wonderful. Claire was a runaway like her but had somehow found a way to make some money. And she invited the girl to meet her friends.

The last thing she remembered was getting sleepy in the back of the SUV she was picked up in. She later woke up in an unfamiliar place behind a locked door, and her new “friends” began feeding her drugs at will.

Days began to run together as she drifted in and out. But she remembered the men. She would either be taken to them, or they would come to her location. She felt powerless to stop them.

And with each encounter, she began to accept the idea that this was now her life. And at that moment, she heard them coming down the hall again. She sobbed and buried her face in her hands, knowing what was to come.

An Unexpected Face

But as the door opened, she realized it wasn’t the harsh older man that usually came for her. It was an American with a serious yet compassionate look in his eyes. He had a sense of urgency as he spoke her name.

It was her real name—not the one her captors had given her. She nodded half in shock. A moment later, he extended his hand and said, “Come with me. I’m here to take you home.”

She rushed to him, and he quickly whisked her out a back door. The light stung her eyes as they hurried down an alleyway to a waiting car. They piled in and drove quickly to a dock, where a small boat was waiting. She climbed in with her liberator before collapsing into unconsciousness.

The next thing she knew, she was in a hospital surrounded by staff. Her parents were there, too, crying tears of joy. But her liberator was nowhere to be seen. She would, in fact, never know who he was or exactly what had happened.

She had been abducted and put to work as a sex slave in the human trafficking industry. Had it not been for her rescuer, she would have been destined to a life of being bought and sold for sex.

While this is a fictitious story, the essence of this saga takes place every day around the world. Girls and boys alike are abducted or lured into human trafficking with little hope of ever getting out again.

Gruesome Facts of Child Sex Trafficking

There is a dark underbelly to the world that we see each day. While it occasionally hits the news for brief moments, an epidemic of human trafficking rages across the United States and almost everywhere else.

And you might be shocked to learn that a 2018 report by the State Department lists the top three nations of origin for victims of human trafficking as the U.S., Mexico, and the Philippines.

Another report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that over 300,000 of America’s youths are considered at risk for sexual exploitation. It’s also estimated that 199,000 incidents occur within the U.S. each year.

Law enforcement personnel are working diligently to combat this horrific crime, but the task is daunting. Many agencies have teams dedicated to stopping such trafficking. And the stories these officers share will easily take away your faith in humanity.

These efforts aren’t left to large agencies, either. The Petersburg, Indiana, Police Department, a small-town agency, has been very effective in catching child predators because of its dedication to it. However, despite all of this work, the problem continues to grow. And social media has made it much easier for such criminals to conduct their business.

But there are some warriors among us who have chosen to do more than wring their hands and actually take action. In fact, while the opening story is fictitious, the reality is that rescue missions quietly take place around the world. One group that has become the leader in this very dangerous and specialized arena is Phantom Rescue.

Elite Protectors

According to the non-profit organization, “Phantom Rescue is an elite group of former law enforcement, FBI, State Department, U.S. special operations and business professionals who have united with one clear objective: to eradicate child trafficking through education, outreach and by assisting authorities with identifying the global sex-trafficking network.”

Its goal is to “form a global alliance with all Anti-Human-Trafficking organizations. This will ensure there is a United Coalition to end this atrocity. The key to our success is proper integration with local, state, and federal authorities, both within the United States and abroad. Our role in ensuring children’s safe return is to be immediately ready to assist authorities while not impeding their investigation.”

The founder of Phantom Rescue is Tony Sparks, who spent 25 years in the U.S. Army as a Ranger, Delta Force operator, and a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR).

He later retired while assigned to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and he quickly ended up working as a “quiet professional” in a variety of roles. His desire to fight human trafficking actually came into focus at his retirement party, where he heard about a young girl’s abduction from a TV across the bar.

At that moment, he turned to a friend and said, “We are going to find and rescue that little girl.”

Launching the Rescue Plan

The next morning, phone calls were made to friends inside multiple three-letter agencies, and a plan was launched. While the international rescue was a success, it came at a price. Including a gunshot wound and the wrath of agencies that were not quite on board for such a daring mission.

Fast-forward to today, and Tony has been officially involved with or steered 49 rescue missions. The actual number is higher, but the name Phantom Rescue embodies the organization’s primary goal of staying below the radar.

Nonetheless, people have noticed. Tony was the primary consultant for the hit movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson. He has built a team of highly trained professionals who each have an average of 20 years of Tier One operational experience. These men are the best of the best, and they understand the gravity and danger of what they’re doing.

In fact, Tony’s original partner and close friend, James “Rodney” Mann, was the epitome of that commitment to mission and service. Sadly, he was killed in a parachute accident while training for a recuse mission.

Rodney came from U.S. Army Special Forces, which has the motto of “De oppresso liber,” which means “To free the oppressed.”

He also believed, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”

This is a perfect summary of the men committed to saving those trapped in human trafficking.

The Approach

Phantom Rescue attacks the problem at three main points. First, a branch of the organization called the Captain Rescue Project is dedicated to raising awareness. Too often, children are tricked into giving their personal information to fake social-media profiles, putting themselves at risk.

The project works to prevent this by “developing meaningful stories geared for a younger age group. Over-the-top villains, humorous heroes, and unsuspecting victims communicate important messages about personal safety in a fun and entertaining way.”

It also conducts global education and marketing campaigns on human trafficking to raise awareness and strengthen local support groups as well as law enforcement entities.

The next focus is international leadership. Phantom Rescue provides an active conduit for global collaboration and communication. This happens by establishing partnerships with in-country resources, creating host nation hotlines and rescue houses, and lobbying the United Nations.

The final component is the most dramatic: direct-action rescue operations. Phantom Rescue conducts these rescues with the support of the host nation, local law enforcement, and/or the United Nations.

Understanding the Child Sex Trafficking Process

While each of these components is important, the education tool has the greatest potential to help. Especially if you understand what Phantom Rescue calls the “Abduction Pipeline.”

Initially, criminals look for kids from broken homes who need attention, use drugs, overshare online, or run away. More specifically, they hunt kids of a certain height, weight, sex, and ethnicity. Following this is the “Grooming Phase,” where victims are often instilled with a false sense of trust through the use of drugs or psychological manipulation.

Then there’s the “Entrapment Phase.”

This harsh reality is when a criminal establishes their physical and psychological dominance over the victim. This is done by forcing them into sex, violence, and drug addiction.

The final phase involves the black market.

As Phantom Rescue explained, “Once a victim has been ‘broken,’ they are considered a marketable asset and can be sold as such on the black market. During this stage, the victims either believe that they’re doing this by choice or have felt they have no choice.

“Victims can easily be sold online to a variety of channels or criminal networks. On average, sex trafficking victims are sold 10 to 15 times a day.”

Fighting Back

The horror of such a life drives Phantom Rescue to do what it does—and selflessly so. As I mentioned earlier, it is non-profit, and all of its funding goes back into the organization’s missions.

Bear in mind that a rescue within the U.S. can cost over $25,000, and international efforts can cost in excess of $50,000. The organization’s first mission was self-funded, and it tries to exist only in the shadows while quietly resolving every dire situation.

There are few organizations in the world that have the dedication that Phantom Rescue demonstrates on a daily basis. This is especially true when you understand the gravity of what it is doing.

These professionals are saving people from the horrors of the sex slave industry. Through education and direct action, they are doing their best to make a difference. They are an inspiration for all of us to step up and help, even in some small way.

For more information, visit PhantomServices.org and CaptainRescue.org.

Staggering Stats (from original 2019 article)

• 46 children go missing every day in the U.S., or 17,000 per year.
• On average, victims are between 11 and 14 years old.
• After being trafficked, a child will live 3 to 7 years on average.
• One in three children are solicited for sex within 48 hours of running away or becoming homeless in the U.S.
• 80 percent of child trafficking is for sex. Other reasons include organ harvesting and slave labor.
• A trafficker can earn $250,000 annually from a single sex slave.
• Over 2 million children are exploited every year globally.
• Phantom Rescue has deployed in 140 countries.
• In terms of funding, Phantom Rescue allocates 65 percent to direct-response operations, 20 percent to awareness and education, and 15 percent to training.

This article is from the October-November 2019 issue of Tactical Life magazine. Grab your copy at OutdoorGroupStore.com.

The Sound of Freedom

As you may already be aware, Angel Studios recently released Sound of Freedom with an incredible public response. The true story, starring Jim Caviezel, follows former federal agent Tim Ballard and his Operation Underground Railroad.

In the movie, Ballard searches for a missing girl that was sold to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. His hunt takes him deep into the seedy underbelly of the world of child sex trafficking. His real-life actions eventually led to laws being passed requiring the government to cooperate with foreign countries on sex trafficking investigations.

Although the liberal media, who fawned over Cuties on Netflix, are trying to paint Sound of Freedom as an ultra-right-wing QAnon thriller for dads with brainworms, the American people disagree. Set to break the $100 million mark, the movie is still beating Insidious: The Red Door and Disney’s Indiana Jones.

Not to mention, it has a score of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 100% audience score, and an A+ CinemaScore. We, the people, want to know what is happening to our children, and we want it to stop. The fact that liberal media does not should tell you all you need to know.

If you have not seen Sound of Freedom yet, make sure to get your tickets and show support for this project and our children.