SWHT A Plea For Help

David J. Story hosts a podcast focused on human trafficking and is the author of a fictional Omega book series inspired by his personal experiences and concerns about missing children and trafficking. The impetus for his writing and podcasting began during the COVID-19 period after his late wife, Sharon, suffered a severe injury in a pedestrian accident and subsequently died after a prolonged coma. While continuing to work outside the home, Story found himself alone and began researching missing children and trafficking. This research led him to learn that Atlanta is among the top U.S. cities associated with human trafficking, which influenced the premise of his fiction and the subjects addressed in his podcast. 

The Omega Book Series 

Story wrote three novels over about two and a half years and is working on a fourth. The series centers around a group called the Omega Group, a collective of ordinary people who form a vigilante-style organization to fight trafficking and rescue victims. The books are fictional and include main characters such as Jack Davidson and Shaylin. The titles mentioned are: Omega 1: The Creation; Omega 2: A Cry for Help; Omega 3: The Head of the Snake; and a work in progress, Inside the Belly of the Snake. The books were a personal creative response to feelings of helplessness and the desire to imagine how regular people might respond if trafficking endangered their loved ones. 

Podcast Purpose and Reach 

Story emphasizes that while the novels are fiction, the podcast addresses real-world trafficking issues by inviting experts and sharing factual information. He does not claim to be a trafficking expert himself but uses the show to bring knowledgeable guests to listeners. The podcast has reached an international audience: Story reports distribution across more than twenty-four countries, approximately eighteen platforms, and nearly two hundred cities, indicating a broader-than-expected reception. He finds the response humbling and believes it validates the need to discuss trafficking more openly. 

Scope and Types of Human Trafficking 

Story outlines the many forms trafficking takes and stresses that public perception often focuses narrowly on sexual exploitation. He enumerates additional categories: forced labor, bondage, domestic servitude, organ removal, forced begging, child soldiers, and forced marriages. He highlights that trafficking is complex and multifaceted and therefore requires broader awareness and intervention strategies beyond only addressing sexual exploitation. 

Prevalence and Drivers in the United States 

Story notes a troubling statistic from 2023: the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported over 17,000 victims in the United States, acknowledging that this number reflects only reported cases and excludes many victims such as runaways and homeless people. He stresses the U.S. is currently the top country for human trafficking in terms of prevalence, which he attributes largely to economic drivers—wealth and demand. The financial ability of consumers to buy sex, pornography, or domestic servitude creates demand that traffickers exploit. Story argues that the country’s relative wealth and power make it a market for trafficking. He also warns that silence and societal reluctance to discuss trafficking enable its growth. 

Perpetrators, Buyers, and the Role of Families 

Story condemns traffickers and those who buy sex, especially when victims are children. He expresses shock and moral outrage at reports of children, even as young as one year old, being prostituted or sold by parents or relatives for money or drugs. He challenges the notion that a parent who sells a child loves that child and uses this to underscore the depth of the problem and the moral collapse surrounding trafficking. 

Limitations of Rescue and the Need to Disrupt Supply 

Rescue operations alone are inadequate to eradicate trafficking because of limited resources and the sheer scale of victims—potentially hundreds of thousands within the country. Story asserts that while rescues are necessary and valuable, greater emphasis must be placed on disrupting the traffickers and reducing demand. He stresses targeting buyers and traffickers as a strategic priority to prevent further exploitation rather than relying solely on post-victim rescue efforts. 

Education, Reporting, and Practical Steps 

Story provides practical guidance and resources for those who suspect trafficking. He promotes education and training to identify trafficking indicators and to learn where to report concerns. He references the National Human Trafficking Hotline and provides the number shared during the episode for reporting tip-offs and seeking help: 1-888-373-7888. He also recommends contacting local law enforcement—911 in emergencies, local sheriff’s offices, the FBI, or Homeland Security—when trafficking is suspected. The recurring message is: if you see something, say something. Reporting suspected trafficking can save lives, and it is better to err on the side of caution by notifying authorities or specialized hotlines. 

How Listeners Can Help 

Story outlines accessible ways individuals can contribute to anti-trafficking efforts: donate money to local organizations fighting trafficking, volunteer time, raise awareness, and participate in local or national initiatives. He suggests small monthly donations (for example, five to twenty dollars) as tangible ways to support organizations. He emphasizes that everyone can play a role and that not all contributions require dramatic action like writing a book or hosting a podcast. Even modest, consistent financial support and volunteer work strengthen community responses and support victim services. 

Cross-Border Nature and International Guests 

While highlighting the U.S. as a trafficking epicenter, Story acknowledges trafficking is a global problem. He has interviewed guests from multiple countries, and upcoming episodes include individuals from South America, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. He intends to bring diverse international perspectives to illustrate how trafficking manifests in different regions and to share strategies that work across borders. 

Resources and Website Plans 

Story directs listeners to his website, DavidJStory.com, where the podcast and book information are available. He is developing a more comprehensive website feature set that will include contact information, training resources, and state-by-state listings for help and services, with the aim of centralizing resources for victims and concerned citizens. This planned resource hub will support people seeking assistance or wanting to learn how to help in their local areas. 

Call to Action and Closing 

The episode concludes with a firm call to action: individuals must not turn away from trafficking issues. Story repeatedly urges listeners to get involved, to support law enforcement and victim services, and to help stop the demand driving trafficking. He frames trafficking as a societal cancer requiring collective action from citizens, nonprofits, and government. He reiterates that law enforcement cannot solve the problem alone and that community involvement is essential. 

He closes with a standard sign-off: “Always watch your six and others too,” encouraging vigilance and care for oneself and the community. 

Key Takeaways 

• Human trafficking is multifaceted: sexual exploitation is only one form; forced labor, domestic servitude, organ removal, forced begging, child soldiers, and forced marriages are also trafficking.
• The United States has a significant trafficking problem, driven in part by demand and wealth, with reported cases rising and the true scale likely larger than official numbers.
• Rescue alone is insufficient; disrupting traffickers and reducing demand are crucial long-term strategies.
• Individuals can help through reporting, donating, volunteering, learning to recognize signs, and supporting organizations that assist victims.
• Resources exist—such as the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888)—and law enforcement agencies should be contacted when trafficking is suspected.
• Awareness and open conversation are necessary because silence enables trafficking to continue.

Suggested Immediate Actions for Listeners
 

1. If you suspect trafficking: call 911 for immediate danger or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to report non-emergency tips and get guidance.
2. Educate yourself: seek training or informational resources to learn indicators of trafficking and how to report safely.
3. Support local organizations: donate or volunteer to increase local capacity for prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation.
4. Engage community institutions: encourage workplaces, schools, and faith groups to include trafficking awareness in their training and outreach.

Overall, David J. Story’s episode blends personal motivation with a broader public-education mission: to raise awareness, provide resources, promote reporting, and encourage community action to reduce trafficking and protect victims. While rooted in a fictional literary project, the podcast’s focus remains firmly on real-world solutions and practical steps listeners ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Welcome back to the secret world of human trafficking. I'm your host, David J. Story. I'm also the author of the Omega book series. Today, we don't have any guests today. It's basically I just want to address some things dealing with my book series and human trafficking. A lot of people have asked me about my book series. Why did I get started? Why did I do the books, the series? Well, basically, when COVID first started, uh, my late wife Sharon, uh, she was involved in a uh car accident. She was actually run down, uh, leaving a Walmart right there on the crosswalk, and she was put into a coma uh for about two and a half years before she uh succumbed to her injuries. During that time, I was working. I was one of the necessary uh individuals that had to come to work every day. I wasn't allowed to work at home. Uh, but when I did leave work and go home, I had no one to come to. Uh so in order to kill my time, I started writing. I had uh been looking on the internet and seeing you know all these missing children, and I thought, what's going on with all this? Uh so I I did some uh checking and digging and found out that Atlanta was one of the uh top cities for human trafficking. And so I thought, what would I do if one of my children or grandchildren uh were taken? Well, it wouldn't be pretty for the person who took them. And uh not having any kind of uh super agent background or former Navy SEAL or Marine or whatever, yeah, there's not a lot I could do. But I thought about well, what if a group of people, average people like myself, got together and formed a group, the Omega group. So I spent about three months developing the main characters, uh Jack Davidson and Shay Lynn, and uh thought about coming up with a Vingilandy group. Now, a lot of people may not agree with uh the term or use of vigilantes, but hey, I was a father, or am a father, and I thought, hey, what would I do if someone were to take my children or grandchildren? So that's how the Omega group formed. And when I'd get home from work, come into an empty house or home, I didn't have really much to do except sit around and write. So for two and a half years, I wrote three novels, the Omega book series. Uh the first one is The Creation, Omega 1, The Creation. The second one is A Cry for Help. The third is The Head of the Snake, and currently working on the fourth one is Inside the Belly of the Snake, along with doing this podcast. I've discovered a lot of things doing the podcast, is that the United States is the top country in the world for human trafficking, which is not a good thing to be proud of or to be number one for. I've had a lot of guests so far on my uh podcast, and uh the response has been very humbling. Uh currently, uh last time I checked, I'm in over 24 countries, and on uh right around 18 different platforms for my podcast, and uh approaching over 200 cities in the world. So uh the response has been uh uh a lot better than I thought. Not a lot of people want to talk about trafficking, and that's one of the problems and why it is growing is people want to turn their head. Uh yeah, I've ran into several people while doing this, and they don't want to talk about it. Uh I don't know why they they have that attitude, uh, but as long as human trafficking, and there's different levels of human trafficking, most people think of the sex sexual exportation, but there's forced labor, there's bondage, there's domestic servitude, uh, organ removal, uh, forced begging, child soldiers, forced marriages. Those are just the main topics and categories of human trafficking. But no one wants to address that. And that's why it continues to grow. And another reason why it's growing in the United States is cause of the money. And I've done an interview with a gentleman, uh, he'll he'll be on the next few few weeks. Uh, we talked about that. Why is the United States growing so much? Why is the United States number one in the world for human trafficking? And it's because of money. Because the United States is so rich and powerful that people have the money to spend on prostitutes, on pornography, and domestic servitude or whatever it might be.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Uh again, that's something not to be proud of.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And uh in 19, or excuse me, in in 2023, the the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported over 17,000 victims of human trafficking just in the United States. And that's just the ones who were reported. That's not the runaways, that's not the one the homeless people. Uh again, that's that's not everyone, that's just the reported ones that they have received phone calls on. So the numbers are a great, a lot greater than 17,000. And it's a growing problem. And if we're not allowed or not wanting to talk about it, it's going to continue to grow. And that's why I came up with the book series, which is a fictional uh book about fictional characters. But the podcast is real life. I bring, I'm not an expert on human trafficking, don't get me wrong. But what I do is I will bring experts to you where you'll understand the dangers of human trafficking out there. And there's there's no turning back.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

We've got to take a stance as an individual, as a group, and help fight this growing problem of human trafficking.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

It's not going to end on its own. It's not going to stop just because we wish it to stop. It's going to take you and myself to get involved in whatever we can do. It may not be writing a book for you. It may not be doing a podcast. It may be simple as donating money to a local organization. There's organizations out there that you can work with and help fight human trafficking. You can volunteer your time, give money, as little as $5, $10, $20 a month, or whatever you can afford. Anything that you can do to help fight this cancer that is taking over our country.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yes, it's in other countries too. But we've got to take care of our homeland first before we can take care of other countries.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

And going after the traffickers or the victims of trafficking is not the only thing we can do. We've got to stop the flow, the need of human trafficking. If we can go around and rescue in these 17,000 or hundreds of thousands, there's cases of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children being trafficked throughout this country. We can go and rescue them. We don't have the manpower or the resources to do that. What we need to do is address the traffickers.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

If we can stop the traffickers in their steps, we need to stop the people who are buying these sex. We need to stop the people who are going around and paying money for these sex children. To have sex with children, that that's that's beyond my comprehension. There's reports as young as one year old being prostituted, being sold for drugs by their parents or relatives. Think about that. As a parent, could you sell your child for a hundred dollars or whatever?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

So you could maybe pay a bill or or whatever. I mean, that that that is something that I could never comprehend.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Is how can a parent do that to someone who they supposedly love? But do you truly love that person if you're able to do that? I say no, but that's just me.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Uh there's a lot of training out there, and that's one thing I'm trying to provide also through this uh podcast is training as how to you know identify trafficking, what to do. Uh there's a national human trafficking hotline out there that you can go to and get information. Uh their number is 1-888-37378. If you suspect any kind of trafficking whatsoever, sexual, forced labor, debt, domestic, whatever, report them or call your local law enforcement, 911, your sheriff office, FBI, uh, Homeland Security. Contact them if you suspect anything. It's it's better to be safe than sorry.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

You know, the the saying is if you see something, say something. That's what we need to do as a uh adult as human humans. We need to help protect our children, our teens, and adults. So find a place where you can help. There's several nonprofit organizations out there that you can go to to help.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Like I said earlier, you can do volunteer work, you can uh donate money, time, whatever. But get get involved. Don't be one of these people who turn their their back, turn their heads, say, I don't want to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Those are the people who allow it to continue to grow. It's a cancer out there. A cancer that only you and me can do something about it. You can go to my website David JStory.com and listen to my podcast if you have not already.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

I guess if you're watching this, you are wat watching my podcast or find out about my books. I'm working on a website that has all the contact information, training, state by state locations for people to get help.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

That will soon be on my website. My goal is to provide whatever I can to help people fight sickness growing cancer. But again, I need your help. Our children need your help. The government needs your help. Law enforcement needs your help. They can't do it by their self. That's basically all I have for this show. I've got some exciting guests coming up.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Uh one guest I just interviewed, uh former CIA agent who's gotten involved in the human trafficking. Uh I've got others coming coming on board to do shows.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Uh other countries. I got uh just finished one uh from South America, uh South Africa. Uh I'm gonna be doing uh interviewing a young lady from uh from England, United Kingdom, talking about uh trafficking there.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

It's all over the world. It's not just here, but it's all over the world. But unfortunately, the United States is the capital of human trafficking. Please, I ask you again, get involved. And I'm gonna close with this as I always close with always watch your six and others too.