FARMINGTON — Most people have not heard a lot about human trafficking, but it’s a growing industry in communities across Maine, according to Lillian Lake, who is co-organizing an awareness campaign here next week.

“Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation,” Lake said in a news release.

It’s an industry that has worked its way up the coast from New York to Boston, Portland and now, according to information provided by Destie Hohman Sprague, program coordinator of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, “is taking off like wildfire in Lewiston,” Lake said.

“There are two cases in the Farmington area that I know of,” she said.

“It’s so complex and related to drug trafficking,” Lake said.

To raise awareness of the issue, especially among young people, two films will be shown next week at Mt. Blue High School and the University of Maine at Farmington.

The first film, “Very Young Girls,” will be screened at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at Mt. Blue High School. Sprague will lead a discussion.

The second film, “Tricked,” will be shown Thursday, April 17, in Thomas Auditorium at the University of Maine at Farmington. A panel discussion with Sprague and individuals working in law enforcement will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Organized by Lake and Nicole Coffey Kellett, assistant professor of anthropology at UMF, the events are intended to raise awareness of human trafficking and help empower people.

Children are targets, Lake said. Teens are most commonly targeted. Most are women, about 10 percent are men, she said.

Once someone is lured in, it’s difficult to get out. If they do, there are no resources or programs to help. The life expectancy of someone in the sex trade is only seven years, she said.

The films and discussions are an opportunity to learn about human trafficking, Farmington police Chief Jack Peck said Friday. He intends to go to both sessions and has made the training available to his staff, he said.

Women, who are already victims, are usually charged with prostitution but their pimps get away with it, Lake said.

Lake became interested in and studied the issue because of her work on local food issues. Migrant food workers are brought up from Mexico. Women are often separated from their families and can be pushed into sex trafficking, she said.

Human trafficking is not dependent on race, culture or poverty. Predators often befriend a young person, gain trust and prey upon them, Lake said. 

She believes the Snapchat mobile app is helping fuel trafficking. Parents put children’s photos up and children believe photos are there and then instantly gone, but they are never really gone, she said.

Kellet and Lake have received support from Mt. Blue Principal Monique Poulin and Glenn Kapiloff, director of Forster Technology Center in Farmington, she said. A couple of high school classes have become involved in the project.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services, Safe Voices, Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault and others will attend the meetings, she said.

LD 1730, An Act to Assist Victims of Human Trafficking, received unanimous support in the Maine House and Senate last week, Lake said.

It needs the governor’s signature, state Rep. Amy Volk of Scarborough, R-Scarborough, the bill’s sponsor, said Thursday.

“We know traffickers are taking advantage of Maine as a recruiting grounds because calls to national trafficking hotlines originating in Maine have doubled in recent years,” Volk said in a speech to the Legislature and printed online.

abryant@sunjournal.com