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SALT LAKE CITY – A private Utah group that rescues child sex slaves across the globe usually just employs former soldiers and ex-law enforcement agents because they’re ready for such work.
Utah’s attorney general was an exception.
“Here’s somebody who has the ability to witness and participate in something that will empower him to be a more effective leader against child trafficking,” Tim Ballard said.
Ballard is the founder of Operation Underground Railroad. He said Atty. Gen. Sean Reyes was “awesome” as an undercover Spanish interpreter during a sting operation in Colombia.
Reyes played a security chief, protecting an agent who posed as a client. They were given a pre-teen girl.
“She came out just so frightened. The drugs that they had given her in the morning had worn off,” Reyes said. “She was now meeting the person who, in her mind, was going to be raping her in a few minutes.”
Reyes said normally the children don’t know who’s coming to help them.
“Somebody tipped them off this time and said the Americans are the good guys. They came here to help you,” he said. “They were crying and singing and thanking us.”
Reyes trained for dozens of hours in self-defense and dozens of scenarios while preparing for the role.
Ballard said Reyes also brought business and legal acumen to fool the traffickers. The team acted as investors in a proposed child sex slave hotel.
As for the Colombian traffickers team busted in October, Ballard said, “They’ve been working with impunity for decades. They’re used to coming in and buying children. For the most part, they are not prepared for what’s coming.”
Reyes’ team helped rescue 54 children – 49 girls and five boys.
Reyes took the trek right before his re-election.
It stemmed from last year’s arrest of Victor Rax, a Guatemalan man accused of human trafficking. He later killed himself in Salt Lake County Jail.
