Truck driver Kevin Kimmel was sitting in his rig at a truck stop in New Kent County, Virginia when he noticed a suspicious looking RV with black drapes parked nearby. A short time later he noticed what seemed to be a troubled young girl’s face suddenly appear taking a quick look out the window; what he didn’t know was just how much trouble was going on inside that RV.
A few minutes later Kimmel watched as a man knocked on the RV door and then proceeded to go into the Pilot gas station. After a short time he saw the man come out of the gas station and walk directly back to the RV. Kimmel told Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR:
“I saw a guy come up and knock on the door then go inside the Pilot–then quickly came back and knocked again, all of the sudden the thing was rocking and rolling.”Kimmel, a veteran trucker, said it was a ‘no brainer’ what was going on, so he dialed deputies.
After police arrived on the scene they arrested a couple who had been forcing a 20 year old girl into sex slavery. The girl had been severely abused, starved and malnourished, authorities said.
According to the affidavit report, the girl not only had been badly burned by having a hot key pressed into her skin (this is the way some sex traffickers brand their girls) she also had punctures wounds on her feet and nails had been driven into her skin.
A father and grandfather himself, Kimmel said of his actions, “I’m just glad I helped her.”
Given that human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, we all need to pay close attention to our surroundings, trust our instincts when we see or notice suspicious behavior, and report it to authorities; you just might save a life.
