DAYTON, Ohio — A group of sex trafficking survivors who call themselves the “Sidewalk Soldiers” are using what happened to them and survival kits to try to keep anyone from becoming a victim.
For the first time, Molly Cruz and Nikia Johnson are back at the motel where they say they became victims almost two decades ago.
They said they were kidnapped, drugged, raped and forced into prostitution.
“I just was ready to die,” said Cruz.
Cruz said she was trafficked for sex for 17 years straight.
“I was trapped. I felt dirty. I felt used. I felt unredeemable, so I was like why not just keep getting high,” said Cruz. “There wasn’t much thought into it. It really wasn’t; it was just use — just use until you don’t remember you have a son waiting for you at home.”
Cruz said she lost her family, lost her only son, ended up with a drug addiction and was in jail on solicitation charges before something would change.
“We had to do community service hours for our programming requirements at Safe Harbor, and Sidewalk Soldiers was one of the options,” said Cruz.
Sidewalk Soldiers is a volunteer group of human trafficking survivors out of Dayton. They go straight into areas where they might find the most vulnerable — areas Johnson said she knows all too well.
“The way we lived, it was scary. Scary,” said Johnson.
She said she got out after she was trafficked for 25 years.
“You can’t tell me that you’re going through nothing out there that not one of us has been through, and we get it, we get it,” said Johnson.
The survivors go in as a team, knocking on doors and handing out purses filled with toiletries and information and resources on how to get out. Sometimes, they find victims, women and even teenagers at risk.
The most recent state data shows more than 400 human trafficking victims were reported in Ohio in 2021, but this team said there are a lot more than what the numbers show.
Some cases go unreported, and that’s who survivors and volunteers are trying to reach on the streets and in Sidewalk Soldiers’ newly opened drop-in center in Dayton.
They’re hoping to reach victims who need help — victims who were once like them.
“When they see that the woman that was in the house next to them can make it out, they can, too,” said Cruz.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, and something doesn’t seem right, you can contact the police or call the National Human Trafficking Resources Center at 1-888-373-7888.
