SPECIAL REPORT: Sex Trafficking Real in NWA and On Rise

Now more than ever, gangs in Northwest Arkansas use sex as a quick and easy way to make money, and their main target is our children.

Law enforcers say the sex trade is more attractive to gangs because crime is easier to hide than drugs.

"I'm one of the few people who go out alive." said Kathy Bryan, a victim of the sex trade. "Trafficking is real, it's not a myth, and it's not unusual."

The sex trade is the fastest growing crime in the country, according to police.

More gangs in Northwest Arkansas are exploiting humans to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"You can sell the drug once, and finish with it.A man you can sell over and over again as much as possible within 24 hours," said Gretchen Smeltzer, Executive Director for Into the Light.

It was something that happened behind closed doors, but Bryan said he used his past to illuminate crime.

"I will do whatever I can to help others find the freedom that I find." says Bryan.

Bryan traded when he was 15 years old until he was 18 years old.

"I met a man, he seduced me, showed my interest, he cared about what I cared about, basically treating me with value," said Bryan.

This treatment process lasted about 6 months before he attacked him.

"We went out on a date one night and it ended on the night when he and another man brutally raped me," said Bryan.

Bryan is traded through the house most nights.

So why did not he leave?

"He was holding my brother over my head all the time.That's why I did everything he said to me He said he would take my sister, he was 5 years old at the time," said Bryan.

Stories like Bryan are almost identical to what Smeltzer sees every day at Into the Light.

"The majority of our girls say their merchants are involved in the gang," Smeltzer said.

Into the Light is a nonprofit that works with sex trafficking victims across the state, but has a special focus in the NWA.

"There are a lot of people at risk in every community, and are people aware of this? Are teenagers aware? Do they know they are at risk for this," Smeltzer said.

Smeltzer said many of the victims they saw came from damaged houses, and sought acceptance.

Unfortunately, they found it in the wrong place.

"So the young lady was looking for identity and for community and connections but she was really exploited," Smeltzer said.

Young women, who usually fall into online commerce, think they are joining the gang, but that's not the case.

"So it's good to provide sex services for gang members, or when they go out and move drugs across the state. I'll also sell the girls in the gang," Smeltzer said.

Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said the role of law enforcement in trade policing has changed over the past decade.

"We just thought it was not here, but only in big cities," Helder said.

Helder says now they understand that those who sell their bodies are actually victims.

"A lot of this involves our children who have repeatedly run away or they find themselves in a home situation where they have to stay away from," Helder said.

Bryan was finally given freedom from the perpetrators of violence, who found only one to two percent of victims of trafficking.

"He suddenly stopped and looked at me and said I did not want to see you again," said Bryan. "This is the only way I can save you, then he kisses my forehead, pushes me off, gets into his car and leaves me there."

So, human trafficking can be stopped?

"Until we have people who are not willing to pay for sex, we will trade sex," said Bryan.