"I was 15 years old.  I was a junior high school virgin taken to New York City and totally exploited.  There is so much fear a trafficker puts into a girl, I didn't tell anybody," said Marlene Carson.

Carson spent ten years as a prostitute.  Trapped in a life she didn't want, terrorized by a pimp who wouldn't let her go.

"If I can't reach out to somebody for help, what am I going to do?  I'm going to stay with the pimp.  I'm going to stay with the trafficker," she added.

Carson is now speaking out.  She founded Rehab's Hideaway, a safe place for young women.

State senator Teresa Fedor says there aren't enough places like it.

"Ohio has been identified as a hub, which means we are an origin state where we have victims, especially children, who are trafficked all over the United States," Fedor said.

In 2005, northwest Ohio was exposed as the center of a human trafficking operation.  Nine girls had been sold as sex slaves.  Twelve people charged had ties to Toledo.

"Now the realization is so many of the adult prostitutes started out being groomed as juveniles," commented Lucas County Juvenile Court Judge Connie Zemmelman.  "So it's important to address the issue at a juvenile level."

Zemmelman says teen girls become victims, and have nowhere to turn.

"I think making sure there are more placements, which requires money," Zemmelman stated.  "Make sure that the placements involve foster families who understand the unique issues these girls are going through."

Ambassador Mark Lagon of the Polaris Project, which fights modern day slavery, says it's hard to eliminate human trafficking.

"As long as the profit exceeds the risk to the act, it's a growing problem," Lagon said.  "Luckily more people are becoming aware."

Marlene agrees and adds, "awareness.  Awareness and the laws.  There has got to be some changing in the laws."

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