August 28, 2023 • 9 mins
Our vision is to fight human trafficking through intervention, education and protection. We strive to see a well-informed public take a uniform stance against human trafficking, while those who have been victimized fully recover with the support of their communities. https://www.theasservoproject.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome in This is the Heart ofPittsburgh podcast. I'm your host Johnny hart
Well old friend in the studio,Joe Sweeney. Good morning, sir,
How are you? Good morning,Johnny? How are you today? All
right? The Aservo Project. You'vebeen in the studio to describe exactly what
you guys do. But for peoplewho aren't familiar with the Aservo Project,
what exactly is the project? Yes, sir, we're a five oh one
c three nonprofit weak kind or humantrafficking and child exploitation and all its forms
(00:30):
and support the recovery of the survivors. And you you educated me so much.
I really didn't realize how big ofa problem it is from a global
standpoint, from a national standpoint,and more specifically, how it affects Pittsburgh.
Sure, and I think that's thebiggest problem. Most people think it's
other places, other countries. Itis here in the United States, and
it is here in Pittsburgh and WesternPennsylvania neighborhoods. And absolutely how big,
(00:54):
how big of a problem is it? It's you know, we've spoken over
four thousand kids. It's last year, it's massive. We got sixty to
eighty percent of these kids in schoolthat are finding themselves in these horrible positions
by sharing explicit material online with strangers, and it's creating a massive problem here
in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. Almostfinancial standpoint, how big of a business
(01:15):
is this? This has grown,It's almost doubled since we first started in
twenty seventeen. It's up to fiftymillion people year or trafficked globally, and
it is now grossing over one hundredand fifty billion dollars a year. These
estimates are conservative by most standpoint,because it's the most under reporter crime there
(01:38):
is. It's really kind of sickening, isn't it. Yeah, there's no
indicator that it's slowing down. It'sso lucrative, and you know, and
it's just every single community. Doesn'tdiscriminate on demographics or a rural or city.
It's everywhere. It's it's boys girls. What's the average age? The
average age is for a child tobe traffic is fourteen years old. That's
(02:01):
disturbing. That's really really disturbing.So what do you do? What exactly
are you? What's your goal?What's your mission? Our goal is to
bring down predators. You know,we look for predators online every day.
For every predator we bring down offline, that's fifty to seventy five kids will
not be victimized or exploited by thatindividual. So our goal is to identify
(02:22):
the predator, locate him. Weshare all this information with our law enforcement
partners so they can do their thingarrest and convict. Now is back to
school time a particular concern for you, Well, I think it's an opportunity
for parents to talk to their kidsabout these online communications. All right,
let's talk a little bit more aboutthat in our next segment, Saturday Morning,
(02:42):
hanging out with the old friend JoeSweeney from the Servo Project. What's
the website that you have www dotthea Servo project dot org and that's ass
r VO Project dot org. Allright, So we talked a little bit
about going back to school, andthis is an opportunity for for teachers and
schools and parents to kind of,you know, give kids a heads up
of what's what's what's happening in thisin the world. Now, these smartphones
(03:06):
has to be Yeah, either oneof us have a whole lot of hair,
but it makes us pull out ofour hair, doesn't Oh, absolutely.
These smartphones are basically portable computers,right, and they give access to
the Worldwide Net, and these childrenhave total access. You know, is
we're out there talking to parents,this is the perfect time to talk to
them. Listen, going back toschool. Do not get caught up into
(03:29):
sharing personal information with strangers, eveneven some of their friends. They're sharing
these videos and pictures of themselves.Some are explicit. And we've talked to
parents and we've talked to the childrenand we ask them, look, do
you do you realize the risk ofthis and why are you doing it?
And the kids literally come back tous and say, hey, listen,
it's no big deal. We're alldoing it. That's what we do in
(03:50):
school. So it's been normalized.The society we live in has normalized this
type of behavior in schools, andthe schools are aware, and I think
they start to realize on how toaddress it. That's why we offer a
presentation to come in and talk toyour junior and senior high school kids.
All right, somebody wants to getthat presentation. What do they have to
(04:10):
do? Just go on our websiteand there's a contact page and you email
us at info at the A ServoProject dot org. Request a meeting and
we'll set it up. If youhad one piece of advice to give a
parent, what would you say.I would say, you need to be
involved in the media your child's watching. And how to do that is there
(04:30):
are softwares that you can load onyour child's phone and you can see what
they're looking at, what they're downloading. You can be sort of a protector
of this nefarious crime that's going ononline. One thing we tell parents,
if you let your child take thatcell phone to bed, you have opened
them up to the entire predatory worldon the internet. Now easier said than
(04:51):
done. My kids are grown,I got grandkids. I just spoke with
a parent. They have a sixteenyear old. They said, it is
actually miserable in the how sold becausewe've enacted that rule, because they feel
they're able to be responsible. Theydon't realize the dangers and the hazards.
So, you know, no reasonto have this thing because a lot of
(05:11):
the activity happens at night. Right. Is there any particular app or apps
that we as a parent should beaware of and keep an eye on?
Sure? You know my answer?Joining And unfortunately all of them we do
see some certain times of the year. Uh. You know, of course,
all the common ones discord, TikTok, Instagram, I mean they're all
eye tear kick. But any appcan be exploited. There's so many apps
(05:32):
that are not as well known thatthe kids use because the parents don't hear
about those. Even the kids arevery skilled in hiding on their phone these
apps. They hide them under underother under like innocent apps. You know.
Oh, I got a story where, you know, even the parents
had the phone locked out. Ifthey wanted to download a game or something,
(05:54):
they gave it to their mum ordad. They unlocked the phone,
they let the kid download it,paid for it, locked the phone back.
Well, how about the kid hadscreen record on when he handed it
to his parents, and his parentsare looking at their credit card and they
see like seven downloads at these gamesand they're like, I don't remember this.
Well, they confronted him and hesaid, yeah, I had screen
(06:15):
record on, So we recorded thepassword, unlocked the front where there's a
will, there's a way thirteen yearsold. Wow, all right? So
and what does the Servo project do? What are you doing to try to
eliminate the human trafficking. Yeah,our main points are we look for predators
online who are constantly looking for vulnerablechildren online to groom them and either sexual
(06:36):
exploitation or actual trafficking, to meetwith them and sell them. It's estimated
right now there's five hundred thousand predatorsonline every day and here in the United
States, one out of every fivechildren are sexually exploded online every nine minutes.
We talked about the apps and thingslike that, but kind of give
us an example of how predators kindof groom some of your kids. Well,
(07:00):
Johnny, we just had a newcase last week. Sixteen year old
girl been gone out two and ahalf months. We got reached out.
Somebody had provided our information and basicallyit was on gaming apps. They were
playing on gaming at different apps,different games, and they'd befriended this girl
over the course of several months andthey noticed a change in behavior a few
(07:26):
months ago, and basically this persongroomed him into thinking there's a better life
out here, there's more fun,there's less responsibility. She ran away from
home. We've identified the individual ashe's in his forties, she's sixteen.
We met with the family yesterday andour job right now is to find her
and also him, and we're workingwith law enforcement to do that. How
(07:49):
do they drop these kids? Howdo they get them so they don't go
back home? They don't you knowthat they don't feel like there's an out.
Yeah, yeah, you know.It's it's crazy. Kids today have
online relationships without even meeting in person. They almost feel this connection, right,
they feel like their boyfriend girlfriend.Sometimes the individual has a vulnerability.
(08:11):
In some family cases, one ofthe huge things we identify is the lack
of a father in the house.Right, So you have a single mom
typically working trying to put food onthe table. The child gets mixed up
with some kids or some other individualsthat aren't the best, and that's just
one of the indicators. Or there'sbeen some abuse, sometimes intergenerational abuse with
(08:35):
the child. So they're out therelooking, they're looking to be wanted,
they're looking to be loved. Bullyingcan be a part of it. So
many indicators that basically I describe itas a crime of vulnerability and exploitation by
the predators. All right, weonly have about a minute left, so
tell us how we can help.Well, first, you know, share
our social media, get like ourpage, get the word out there.
(08:58):
Education and awareness is huge. Themore people we can have aware of this
problem, the better. Second isfundraising. Fundraising is always a challenge.
You know, it's expensive. Youknow, we work all over the United
States and we do work some internationalcases as well, So we're constantly looking
to raise money. Host an awarenessevent. Let's come and talk to your
(09:18):
community, your rotary, your churches. We just started a fourteen dollars a
month campaign. The average age ofa child is fourteen years old. That's
sex trafficked in the United States.For fourteen dollars a month, you can
make a difference in identifying predators andeducating kids on the hazards of online communication.
And it's a huge help to theorganization. All right, fourteen dollars
(09:39):
a month. Get more information onthe website via Servo project dot org.
Joe Sweeney, thank you so much, Buddy Eye, are really good to
see you. Thank you for comingto you two and thanks for having us.
We appreciate it. This has beenthe heart of Pittsburgh Podcast. I'm
your host, Johnny Heart. Thankyou so much for listening.
Welcome in This is the Heart ofPittsburgh podcast. I'm your host Johnny hart
Well old friend in the studio,Joe Sweeney. Good morning, sir,
How are you? Good morning,Johnny? How are you today? All
right? The Aservo Project. You'vebeen in the studio to describe exactly what
you guys do. But for peoplewho aren't familiar with the Aservo Project,
what exactly is the project? Yes, sir, we're a five oh one
c three nonprofit weak kind or humantrafficking and child exploitation and all its forms
(00:30):
and support the recovery of the survivors. And you you educated me so much.
I really didn't realize how big ofa problem it is from a global
standpoint, from a national standpoint,and more specifically, how it affects Pittsburgh.
Sure, and I think that's thebiggest problem. Most people think it's
other places, other countries. Itis here in the United States, and
it is here in Pittsburgh and WesternPennsylvania neighborhoods. And absolutely how big,
(00:54):
how big of a problem is it? It's you know, we've spoken over
four thousand kids. It's last year, it's massive. We got sixty to
eighty percent of these kids in schoolthat are finding themselves in these horrible positions
by sharing explicit material online with strangers, and it's creating a massive problem here
in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. Almostfinancial standpoint, how big of a business
(01:15):
is this? This has grown,It's almost doubled since we first started in
twenty seventeen. It's up to fiftymillion people year or trafficked globally, and
it is now grossing over one hundredand fifty billion dollars a year. These
estimates are conservative by most standpoint,because it's the most under reporter crime there
(01:38):
is. It's really kind of sickening, isn't it. Yeah, there's no
indicator that it's slowing down. It'sso lucrative, and you know, and
it's just every single community. Doesn'tdiscriminate on demographics or a rural or city.
It's everywhere. It's it's boys girls. What's the average age? The
average age is for a child tobe traffic is fourteen years old. That's
(02:01):
disturbing. That's really really disturbing.So what do you do? What exactly
are you? What's your goal?What's your mission? Our goal is to
bring down predators. You know,we look for predators online every day.
For every predator we bring down offline, that's fifty to seventy five kids will
not be victimized or exploited by thatindividual. So our goal is to identify
(02:22):
the predator, locate him. Weshare all this information with our law enforcement
partners so they can do their thingarrest and convict. Now is back to
school time a particular concern for you, Well, I think it's an opportunity
for parents to talk to their kidsabout these online communications. All right,
let's talk a little bit more aboutthat in our next segment, Saturday Morning,
(02:42):
hanging out with the old friend JoeSweeney from the Servo Project. What's
the website that you have www dotthea Servo project dot org and that's ass
r VO Project dot org. Allright, So we talked a little bit
about going back to school, andthis is an opportunity for for teachers and
schools and parents to kind of,you know, give kids a heads up
of what's what's what's happening in thisin the world. Now, these smartphones
(03:06):
has to be Yeah, either oneof us have a whole lot of hair,
but it makes us pull out ofour hair, doesn't Oh, absolutely.
These smartphones are basically portable computers,right, and they give access to
the Worldwide Net, and these childrenhave total access. You know, is
we're out there talking to parents,this is the perfect time to talk to
them. Listen, going back toschool. Do not get caught up into
(03:29):
sharing personal information with strangers, eveneven some of their friends. They're sharing
these videos and pictures of themselves.Some are explicit. And we've talked to
parents and we've talked to the childrenand we ask them, look, do
you do you realize the risk ofthis and why are you doing it?
And the kids literally come back tous and say, hey, listen,
it's no big deal. We're alldoing it. That's what we do in
(03:50):
school. So it's been normalized.The society we live in has normalized this
type of behavior in schools, andthe schools are aware, and I think
they start to realize on how toaddress it. That's why we offer a
presentation to come in and talk toyour junior and senior high school kids.
All right, somebody wants to getthat presentation. What do they have to
(04:10):
do? Just go on our websiteand there's a contact page and you email
us at info at the A ServoProject dot org. Request a meeting and
we'll set it up. If youhad one piece of advice to give a
parent, what would you say.I would say, you need to be
involved in the media your child's watching. And how to do that is there
(04:30):
are softwares that you can load onyour child's phone and you can see what
they're looking at, what they're downloading. You can be sort of a protector
of this nefarious crime that's going ononline. One thing we tell parents,
if you let your child take thatcell phone to bed, you have opened
them up to the entire predatory worldon the internet. Now easier said than
(04:51):
done. My kids are grown,I got grandkids. I just spoke with
a parent. They have a sixteenyear old. They said, it is
actually miserable in the how sold becausewe've enacted that rule, because they feel
they're able to be responsible. Theydon't realize the dangers and the hazards.
So, you know, no reasonto have this thing because a lot of
(05:11):
the activity happens at night. Right. Is there any particular app or apps
that we as a parent should beaware of and keep an eye on?
Sure? You know my answer?Joining And unfortunately all of them we do
see some certain times of the year. Uh. You know, of course,
all the common ones discord, TikTok, Instagram, I mean they're all
eye tear kick. But any appcan be exploited. There's so many apps
(05:32):
that are not as well known thatthe kids use because the parents don't hear
about those. Even the kids arevery skilled in hiding on their phone these
apps. They hide them under underother under like innocent apps. You know.
Oh, I got a story where, you know, even the parents
had the phone locked out. Ifthey wanted to download a game or something,
(05:54):
they gave it to their mum ordad. They unlocked the phone,
they let the kid download it,paid for it, locked the phone back.
Well, how about the kid hadscreen record on when he handed it
to his parents, and his parentsare looking at their credit card and they
see like seven downloads at these gamesand they're like, I don't remember this.
Well, they confronted him and hesaid, yeah, I had screen
(06:15):
record on, So we recorded thepassword, unlocked the front where there's a
will, there's a way thirteen yearsold. Wow, all right? So
and what does the Servo project do? What are you doing to try to
eliminate the human trafficking. Yeah,our main points are we look for predators
online who are constantly looking for vulnerablechildren online to groom them and either sexual
(06:36):
exploitation or actual trafficking, to meetwith them and sell them. It's estimated
right now there's five hundred thousand predatorsonline every day and here in the United
States, one out of every fivechildren are sexually exploded online every nine minutes.
We talked about the apps and thingslike that, but kind of give
us an example of how predators kindof groom some of your kids. Well,
(07:00):
Johnny, we just had a newcase last week. Sixteen year old
girl been gone out two and ahalf months. We got reached out.
Somebody had provided our information and basicallyit was on gaming apps. They were
playing on gaming at different apps,different games, and they'd befriended this girl
over the course of several months andthey noticed a change in behavior a few
(07:26):
months ago, and basically this persongroomed him into thinking there's a better life
out here, there's more fun,there's less responsibility. She ran away from
home. We've identified the individual ashe's in his forties, she's sixteen.
We met with the family yesterday andour job right now is to find her
and also him, and we're workingwith law enforcement to do that. How
(07:49):
do they drop these kids? Howdo they get them so they don't go
back home? They don't you knowthat they don't feel like there's an out.
Yeah, yeah, you know.It's it's crazy. Kids today have
online relationships without even meeting in person. They almost feel this connection, right,
they feel like their boyfriend girlfriend.Sometimes the individual has a vulnerability.
(08:11):
In some family cases, one ofthe huge things we identify is the lack
of a father in the house.Right, So you have a single mom
typically working trying to put food onthe table. The child gets mixed up
with some kids or some other individualsthat aren't the best, and that's just
one of the indicators. Or there'sbeen some abuse, sometimes intergenerational abuse with
(08:35):
the child. So they're out therelooking, they're looking to be wanted,
they're looking to be loved. Bullyingcan be a part of it. So
many indicators that basically I describe itas a crime of vulnerability and exploitation by
the predators. All right, weonly have about a minute left, so
tell us how we can help.Well, first, you know, share
our social media, get like ourpage, get the word out there.
(08:58):
Education and awareness is huge. Themore people we can have aware of this
problem, the better. Second isfundraising. Fundraising is always a challenge.
You know, it's expensive. Youknow, we work all over the United
States and we do work some internationalcases as well, So we're constantly looking
to raise money. Host an awarenessevent. Let's come and talk to your
(09:18):
community, your rotary, your churches. We just started a fourteen dollars a
month campaign. The average age ofa child is fourteen years old. That's
sex trafficked in the United States.For fourteen dollars a month, you can
make a difference in identifying predators andeducating kids on the hazards of online communication.
And it's a huge help to theorganization. All right, fourteen dollars
(09:39):
a month. Get more information onthe website via Servo project dot org.
Joe Sweeney, thank you so much, Buddy Eye, are really good to
see you. Thank you for comingto you two and thanks for having us.
We appreciate it. This has beenthe heart of Pittsburgh Podcast. I'm
your host, Johnny Heart. Thankyou so much for listening.
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