An APR news feature
The crime of human trafficking is getting more attention in the news.
An Alabama woman is suing a pornography web site she claims profited from videos taken while she was trafficked, and 20 people were arrested this month during a Tuscaloosa sting operation by the West Alabama Human Trafficking task force.
The glamor of the annual Miss Mobile Bay pageant may seem like a world away from this type of crime, but it hits home for one young woman who competed. Her story begins with the Distinguished Young Women contest.
When you take part in contests like DYW, there are certain things that go with it. That includes the interview segment. Each contestant was asked “What is the movie that best describes your life?”
Brianna Vigor, she goes by Breigh for short, traded her dance leopard for a teal dress when it was her turn at the Mike.
“The truth is my reality could be compared to a horror film. I am a survivor of an online child predator,” she told the audience.
Up to that point, only Vigor's family and law enforcement knew about the incident. Now, everyone did.
“On my show, I would expose the dangers of social media and shed light on what our generation is faced with daily,” Vigor went onto say. “You would also see a family fighting for justice while maintaining a sense of normalcy. At the end of the day, I have learned no situation is too big for a family to handle as long as they have each other.”
That night, Vigor won second runner-up. But, in the process, talking about what happened to her.
“When I was in the sixth grade, I was contacted by an online predator,” she said. “It started whenever I was elected as class representative for my homeroom and basically what my job as class representative was to get everyone's point of contact. I was requesting a ton of people as well. I wasn't paying attention to the important question of do I actually know this person? I was just going down the line, hitting the accept button.”
Alabama Public Radio spent 14 months investigating human trafficking in the state. That includes reporting on predators who try to make contact online.
“That’s why I mention, it’s more insidious than throwing a bag over someone’s head and throwing them in a van,” said Chris Lim.
He led a University of Alabama effort through the College of Social Work to study the issue of human trafficking in the state. He told APR how predators learn about a young person’s dreams or fears through online chatting.
“He’ll identify that just through conversations they’re having,” Lim said. “And, beginning to exploit that. ‘Hey, I know someone who can get you into dancing, and I think you’ll be great. Let’s work together to get you to do this.’”
“One day I received an Instagram message and it was very basic,” Vigor said.
“It was how was your day today? And if I'm being honest, I thought that it was just a kid from my school,” Vigor said. “The profile was very basic. It didn't have a lot of pictures. The bio was very basic as well. So I couldn't get a lot of information about who this person was and I responded. This stretched to about two weeks. And it was normal until all of a sudden this person wanted more from me.”
These chats went on for two weeks. Then, her new friend asked for nude pictures and threatened to kill her family if she didn't send them. Vigor was 12 years old and didn't know what to do, so she kept quiet and sent a picture.
“At that point I was putty in his hands and my situation lasted for three years before I ever came to light,” Vigor said. “We took it to law enforcement, then he didn't stop reaching out for another two to three years following that. But during that time, he had tried to meet up with me multiple times.”
That included a dance recital in Las Vegas, when someone out of place showed up.
“One of the dance moms had noticed that a guy had been pacing in front of the door in the room that we were in,” Vigor said. “She just made an announcement to everyone saying, if you have a daughter who's changing, cover her up. There's this weird guy pacing in front of the room, we're going to get security. They told the security guard that was sitting outside and they escorted him out. But later that night he messaged me and says, I just wanted to let you know that I was really close to you today. And I 100% believe that it was him. He had every intention of getting his hands on me and trafficking me.”
Pretty soon, Vigor's secret encounters weren’t so secret anymore.
“She's sitting up in her bed as I asked her, what are you doing up so late?” Cricket Vigor, Breigh’s mother, said.
One night after the Las Vegas incident, Cricket couldn't sleep, so she went to Breigh’s room to check in.
“It's when I noticed the flip of the phone. But as I started to go through her phone, what alarmed me was a screen name in her fame and it's listed as “daddy.” And as I walked into my bedroom, I says, I need to know who this is because your father does not have this application,” she said. “I didn't realize the significance of that for several months later, when I flew out of Pensacola and there was a magazine that I was reading on my flight. In that magazine, it says that human traffickers will actually label girls, tattoo them with the word daddy or with a barcode standing for that. That was very enlightening for me”
Cricket did her own research, gathering information about Breigh's trafficker. But the decision to go to law enforcement was difficult. The two of them worried about whether the police would see Breigh as a victim or an accomplice?
“I had to have that harsh conversation with my child to say, in order for me to protect you understand that you may be arrested in the process,” Cricket said. “I'll do what I can and fight as hard as I can to get you out of this. We have to stop him, or he's never going to stop coming after you."
The FBI took the case and warned the family that Breigh's trafficker was dangerous. Federal agents visited the suspect, who then fled the country in 2019. He hasn't been heard from since. Vigor said she was taught the danger of drugs and alcohol, but not of the danger of predators online. She wasn't prepared to say no when it happened to her. Today she is using her story to educate others.
"I'm supposed to be sharing my story because in the long run it's going to help someone. It has already helped someone,” Vigor said. “And if I can help save the life of just one person, then in my eyes, it would have all been worth it.”
She was later crowned Miss Mobile Bay.
That means she’ll move to compete for Miss Alabama this Summer. Her plans to keep her experience as a victim of online trafficking part of her message on stage. Win or lose, she thinks it will raise awareness and save others from sex trafficking along the way.
