BUTLER TWP — FBI special agent Aaron Muscatello, a former Butler resident who worked with a Detroit task force bent on corralling sex traffickers and helping victims, especially minors, shared his experiences with a Butler women’s club Monday night.

Sex trafficking is considered the one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the nation, he said.

“I spoke to over 500 victims while in Detroit ... If you treat them like victims and talk to them like they’re human, they would open up and help us bring (traffickers) in.”

Muscatello spoke about his career during a meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Intermediate League of Butler at Christ Community United Methodist Church. The members learned about what victims experience and how people can help.

Muscatello said most victims are brought into trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and that those most vulnerable to it are homeless or runaways.

He added that most traffickers advertise for victims online, but places such as brothels and massage parlors can have high rates of trafficking. Victims often are persuaded into drug use and addiction that keeps them tethered to their captors.

Spotting red flags

Red flags of sex trafficking, according to Muscatello, are younger women with fake IDs, multiple hotel keys or cellphones not in their parents’ name who lie about their age, hanging out with older males and have a lack of knowledge of the area.

“These are indicators,” he said. “The more you stack together, the more you can piece together that this could be a victim.”

Muscatello said bringing in traffickers in Detroit was like “shooting fish in a barrel,” as the crime was so prevalent.

“(Trafficking) does exist locally in some capacity or another,” he said. “Pittsburgh is such a nice city compared to others out there. It’s not as prevalent (here) as in Detroit.”

Muscatello told multiple stories of some of his worst convicted perpetrators, one of which videotaped all of his criminal activity and posted it online. He added that the victims often lead better lives after the trials of their traffickers.

“Federal cases take so long. (Victims) that helped us got clean, got help, and some had great success stories after their traffickers were convicted. One went on to be a nurse’s aide,” he said.

Vickie White, a member of the club, said the presentation brought on more questions about how they could help as a group.

“I thought it was interesting ... My biggest concern is I feel helpless. What can we do in the community and as a club to know what’s going on in our community,” White said.

Muscatello said he enjoys giving informational talks to the community.

“We can’t do our job without your help,” he told the club. “That’s why I’m happy to have been invited out here. Without community assistance and alerting law enforcement of what (you’re) seeing we can’t have any idea.”