'It can be anybody': Sacramento survivor says sex trafficking can happen later in life
“I wasn’t aware of what was going on right in front of my face as a civilian,” Raphaella Fontenot says.
“I wasn’t aware of what was going on right in front of my face as a civilian,” Raphaella Fontenot says.
“I wasn’t aware of what was going on right in front of my face as a civilian,” Raphaella Fontenot says.
For Raphaella Fontenot, seeing someone else turn their life around is like getting to “watch myself transform again.”
“And I understand it doesn’t matter where we begin,” she said. “As long as we’re willing, anything is possible.”
Fontenot works as a crime victims case manager for Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH). The Sacramento organization helps connect sex trafficking survivors with resources.
The services CASH offers vary. Sometimes women come in for a snack or a bottle of lotion, Fontenot said. Perhaps by a third or fourth visit, they may sit down for a conversation where they begin to build trust with the mentors who aim to “meet people where they are.”
Eventually, this trust-building can lead to comprehensive services like emergency housing, case management, recovery assistance and other support.
“The goal is for them to be independent,” Fontenot said.
Fontenot first came to CASH in 2018 as a client herself after experiencing homelessness in Nevada and fleeing her trafficker while pregnant. The same man followed her to Sacramento and picked her up at the Greyhound station when she arrived, she said.
Federal law describes sex trafficking as when "a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age."
The Department of Justice says coercion could be "subtle or overt, physical or psychological."
Fontenot said she was trafficked for four years. Her trafficker in Nevada first invited her to stay with him during a recession. After a week, he told her she needed to “do something for money.” Violence sometimes followed.
One time it was snowing in Reno and buyers weren’t pulling over, she recalled. Fontenot was cold and wanted to go home. She didn’t have a key so she crawled through a window and then went to sleep.
“I got woken up from a boot in my back kicking me because I wasn’t outside working,” she said.
Fontenot said she became disconnected from family while in Nevada. After her trafficker followed her back to Sacramento, she worked the streets for two months while pregnant, she said.
Fontenot decided to get help from CASH and other organizations after having her baby.
She said she wants people to know that sex trafficking is “an extremely big” problem in the Sacramento area.
“I wasn’t aware of what was going on right in front of my face as a civilian,” she said.
There is sometimes a misconception that this happens to juveniles, but “it can be anybody,” she said.
The story was produced as part of the KCRA 3 Investigates documentary "Escaping The Blade" about sex trafficking in Sacramento County. Watch the full report here.