When Shelia Fedrick, a flight attendant, noticed a teenage girl flying with an older man, she was concerned. The man was well-dressed, the girl looked unkempt and disheveled.
“Something in the back of my mind said something is not right,” Shelia said. “He was well-dressed, that’s what kind of got me because why is he well dressed and she is looking disheveled and out of sorts?”
Whenever she asked the girl a question, the man answered. He was obviously controlling her. Under her breath, Shelia told the girl to go to the bathroom. She left a note on the mirror for her, and the girl’s written response was chilling.
“She wrote back on the note and said ‘I need help,’” Shelia said.
Shelia told the pilot about the situation and when the plane landed, police were there to apprehend the creep. Sheila gave the girl, who was 14 or 15 at the time, her phone number. The girl was so grateful that she kept it and called Shelia a few weeks later.
As it turns out, the teenager was a victim of human trafficking. She was kidnapped and being sold for sexual exploitation or slavery. Shelia’s instincts completely changed the course of this young woman’s life.
Shelia decided to share her story in the wake of a new program that trains flight attendants to spot the signs of human trafficking. To learn about this life-saving new program, watch the video below.
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