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Thelwell honored for her commitment to fighting human trafficking, child exploitation and elder abuse

Thelwell

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Thelwell was awarded “Prosecutor of the Year” by Attorney General Ashley Moody at the annual Human Trafficking Summit.

Lisa Thelwell remembers that August day in 2012 when Chief Assistant Don Horn welcomed her class of 40 new hires — mostly beginning lawyers like her — to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.

“He said our jobs are very important and we have the power to change lives with one decision,” Thelwell recalls. “No matter how big or small the case, our judgment is extremely important.”

It's a message Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Thelwell applies daily in the Special Victims Section, where she fights human trafficking, and elder abuse, and in her coordinator role with a regional human trafficking task force — and in her professional service work recruiting minority lawyers for the National Association of Black Prosecutors Foundation.

Looking back on a 10-year career as a state and federal prosecutor, the Miami native and first-generation lawyer calls it a dream come true.

“When I think about all the things that you can do when you become a lawyer, this is the most impactful, the most rewarding work that you can possibly do,” she says. “No, the money's not great, but nobody takes this job because of the money. Frankly, it's an opportunity to serve.”

Her enthusiasm for the job and community service hasn't gone unnoticed.

Earlier this year, Thelwell was awarded “Prosecutor of the Year” by Attorney General Ashley Moody at the annual Human Trafficking Summit. She also received a Special Achievement Award for Public Safety and from the Tampa Region and Inspectors General Council. In 2019, the Florida Gang Investigators Association named Thelwell “Prosecutor of the Year.”

Thelwell represents the U.S. Department of Justice in the 23-agency Tampa Bay Task Force on Human Trafficking. The St. Petersburg Police Department became the lead agency in 2020 when it received a nearly $750,000 federal grant. Other partners include the FBI, , and Florida Department of .

“In my role as coordinator, I'm responsible for conducting a lot of training and outreach,” she said.

That means training investigators to make “airtight” cases, and health care professionals to identify the telltale signs a patient has been trafficked, she said.

“We [also] make it a point to educate members of the business community, all community members, really, because it's happening in plain sight,” she said. “It's everywhere, you just don't see it because you're not looking for it.”

Thelwell compares the invisibility factor to car shopping.

“You go out shopping, you decide the kind of car you like, and all of a sudden, you see that model and that color everywhere,” she said. “Once you become educated on what human trafficking really is, what it looks like, what victims look like, what tactics traffickers use, you recognize it.”

Educating the public means dispelling the notion that most human trafficking victims are foreigners or snatched from street and thrown into the proverbial white van.

“It happens, but that's generally not what we're seeing when it relates to sex or labor trafficking,” she says.

A victim could be a next-door neighbor, or the teenager that mows your lawn.

Victims are often recruited through , Thelwell says.

“Almost every single case that I have dealt with when it comes to dealing with child predators and human trafficking, too, there is an aspect of social media involved, like, one hundred percent,” she said. “They're all communicating on various platforms.”

In a typical scenario, a predator will befriend a victim online, and convince him or her to forward explicit photos, Thelwell says.

“They build some sort of initial trust, and then somehow obtain explicit images of the child, and use that to continue to exploit them,” Thelwell says.

Thelwell knows it's every parent's nightmare.

“When I go to these community outreach events and parents ask me, ‘Well, which platform should my kid stay off of?' I'm like, all of them,” Thelwell says. “People who want to take advantage of kids are everywhere, which is very disturbing.”

Thelwell advises parents to maintain good relationships with their children, and to always be watchful.

“Monitor their phones, be vigilant, and watch your child's behavior. If you notice something is different, try to keep lines of communication open, and if they don't want to talk to you, maybe they will talk to someone else, a trusted aunt.”

Prosecuting human trafficking can be difficult because many victims don't recognize that they're being exploited, she said. Few child exploitation victims are eager to testify.

“You're asking them to talk to you about probably the most traumatic experience of their life, that they just want to get past it,” she said. “It does take a specific person and you have to have a compassionate personality.”

Thelwell was part of the team that successfully prosecuted David Alan Quarles, a 51-year-old Odessa man. According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, Quarles was found guilty of conspiracy; by force, threats, fraud, and coercion; importation of an alien for the purpose of prostitution; transportation of an individual in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution; and using a facility of interstate commerce in aid of prostitution.

Quarles faces a mandatory 15 years, and up to life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for January 24.

Thelwell can't discuss the specifics of a pending case and says the views she expresses are not those of her department.

But she said some elements of the Quarles case, which involved recruiting victims who worked in an adult nightclub, are typical of many human trafficking cases.

“Traffickers [are] looking for vulnerable people, people who don't have a family, who lack a stable home life. If you're not getting love and affection from your family, you're going to look for it from somebody else,” she said.

It wasn't long after Thelwell moved to Tampa in 2016 to work as a federal prosecutor in the Middle District that she became initiated to working with society's most vulnerable victims.

She remembers the phone ringing on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

“The agent needed a time-sensitive search warrant for a couple, a married couple, who was alleged to have been sexually abusing a 7-year-old child,” she said.

The case was unsettling, and Thelwell had difficulty sleeping.

“You hear about these things happening, but until you do the investigating, and see the evidence for yourself, it was truly unimaginable for me,” she said. “I don't think you can grasp how evil some people can be.”

Thelwell regularly attends a non-denominational Christian church and says her strong faith sustains her. To avoid burnout, she heads regularly to the gym.

“I box,” she says. “If you're having a really frustrating day, just take it out on the bag.”

 

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.

 

EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.