Inside a Blaine cafe on the evening of April 23, survivors and police delivered the same warning: human trafficking can begin in familiar places — a home, a hotel room, a gaming app or a phone screen.
The Growing Change Together fundraiser, held at Storyteller Cafe, brought together survivors, police and community members to raise awareness about human trafficking and signs that someone may be at risk.
The fundraiser supported the Stories Foundation, which works to combat human trafficking.
Catrina McEachern, who identified herself as a survivor of sex trafficking and a person in recovery, spoke publicly about her experience for the first time. She told the crowd she was not used to public speaking but wanted to share what she had been through.
McEachern described a childhood marked by early exposure to drugs and alcohol. As an adult, she said, years of illness, injury and instability deepened the struggles she was already carrying.
After moving to the Twin Cities in 2001, McEachern said she was a newly single mother, had a son and was going through thyroid cancer.
In 2011, McEachern said a head-on collision put her out of work. She said the pain and upheaval that followed eventually led to meth use.
McEachern said another crash took her out of work again, and she later experienced sex trafficking while staying at a hotel. She said trauma and addiction left her feeling unable to tell her husband what had happened.
After years of trauma and addiction, McEachern said faith and recovery helped her begin rebuilding her life.
“I started praying,” McEachern said. “I opened up the Bible, and I said, ‘All right, God, talk to me.’”
McEachern said she and her husband eventually got sober and began trying to help others facing addiction and instability.
Today, the couple runs The Tommy Project out of Ogilvie. The project provides harm reduction supplies and other resources to people in need. It is named for the couple’s adopted son, Tommy, who died of an overdose in 2020.
Another survivor, Tiffany Jacobsen, spoke about being trafficked as a child and said the effects of trafficking can last long after someone is removed from the situation.
“People thought the house looked perfect on the outside,” Jacobsen said. “But it was hell on the inside.”
Jacobsen said she was trafficked beginning at age 3 and was later removed from that situation as a teenager. She said she then spent time on the streets and went through several situations involving domestic abuse.
“When it’s your parents, when it’s people that you’re supposed to trust and think they would protect you, they didn’t,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen said conversations about trafficking are difficult but necessary because many victims remain trapped in dangerous situations.
“This is a very uncomfortable and heavy conversation,” Jacobsen said. “But you have to think about all the people who are still out there, who are still very uncomfortable because they’re still very stuck in these situations.”
Jacobsen also warned that predators can use online games and other platforms to reach children. She said families need to be aware of how quickly conversations online can become dangerous.
The event also featured Blaine Police Department Detective Mike Vollman, who specializes in human trafficking, and Andrea Donaldson, a victim services specialist with the BPD.
Vollman said online grooming is one of the major trends investigators are seeing as alleged traffickers often use gaming, messaging and social media apps to contact and manipulate potential victims.
“They’ll use gaming apps, messaging apps,” Vollman said. “When they do that, they’re using it to groom victims. They’ll start out maybe just chatting with a 15-year-old, pretending they’re 15. Then all of a sudden, now they’re asking for photos … and it turns into, ‘When are we going to meet up?’”
Vollman said trafficking investigations can overlap with other crimes, including shoplifting and domestic offenses. He said victims may be coerced into committing crimes.
“If they can’t provide the trafficker what they want, they’ll have them do other crimes,” Vollman said. “They’ll have them go in and shoplift and do other stuff like that.”
Vollman said officers may first encounter victims through another type of call, including retail theft, traffic stops or hotel complaints. He said some victims may not have identification, a phone or control over where they are going.
He recalled a traffic stop he made years ago in Duluth for a seat belt violation. Vollman said the driver did not have a license or insurance, and two girls in the back seat gave him explanations that he later learned were false.
Vollman said he took the situation at face value at the time. About a year later, he was subpoenaed as a federal witness because the traffic stop had involved a human trafficking operation. Because he had recorded the girls’ identities, officials were able to use that information.
Vollman said the experience shaped how he now thinks about training officers to recognize potential signs of trafficking.
Donaldson said her role is to support victims during and after police contact, especially when someone may not feel comfortable speaking with an officer.
“I’m not dressed in law enforcement gear. I’m not an officer,” Donaldson said. “I’m a lot less threatening to talk to.”
Donaldson said she began her work after noticing a gap in how victims were supported after the initial police response. She said she responds to scenes or follows up with people after a crime to find out what they need.
She said she asks victims how they are feeling and what kind of support they need — questions officers may not always have time to focus on during an investigation. That support, she said, can become a first step toward helping someone leave a dangerous situation.
Vollman said police are working to better train officers and community partners to recognize signs of trafficking. He said Blaine police are also trying to train hotel staff to watch for warning signs.
Those signs can include people who appear scared or unsure where they are, people being dropped off and picked up repeatedly, hotel rooms with constant do-not-disturb signs, frequent requests for towels or sheets and large amounts of cash or expensive items.
Vollman said other warning signs can include someone avoiding eye contact, giving short or quiet answers, appearing controlled by another person, having unexplained expensive items or having tattoos that may be connected to exploitation.
He also encouraged parents to regularly check their children’s online activity.
“I can’t say that enough. Monitor weekly,” Vollman said. “Look at what they’re doing, look at who they’re chatting with.”