Voices for Voices®

Spotting Red Flags Could Save Someone's Life | Ep 257

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 257

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Spotting Red Flags Could Save Someone's Life | Ep 257

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David Solomon shares his personal experiences as a survivor of human trafficking, highlighting the crucial warning signs in hotels and the humanity behind those caught in prostitution and exploitation.

• Hotel trafficking warning signs include guests who don't resemble their companions, children in large groups, frequent room visitors, and cash payments
• Traffickers specifically select non-ground floor rooms to control exits and evade hotel security
• Many prostitutes are trapped by debt, addiction, or coercion rather than choosing the lifestyle
• People in prostitution deserve dignity and compassion as they often have stories of trauma and survival
• David's mother helped numerous women and men escape exploitation through consistent kindness and connections to resources
• Simple awareness and intervention from hotel staff could prevent trafficking situations and save lives
• Even after escaping exploitation, survivors face judgment and stigma that compounds their trauma
• People can make a difference by learning warning signs, showing compassion, and reaching out to those who may be in dangerous situations

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, text or call 988, or visit 988hotline.org to talk to someone 24/7 in English or Spanish. You are not alone.

#RedFlags #MentalHealthAwareness #SafetyFirst #LifeSavingTips #HealthyRelationships #WarningSigns #EmotionalSafety #RelationshipAdvice #ProtectYourself #RecognizeTheSigns #PersonalSafetyTips #MindfulLiving #AwarenessMatters #CrisisPrevention #EmpowermentThroughKnowledge #Instagram #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion

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Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone, Justin Alan Hayes, here again for another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Thank you for joining us. We're over 250 episodes going strong. Thank you for your love and support, your prayers, your thoughts, your donations, your sponsorship, your legal support. We just can't thank you enough and we just want to say God bless the whole world and especially, God bless the United States of America.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

This particular episode we're going to do a little bit of talk about, a little bit of research on the, on the ways that it appears that some, some of these individuals who look to be doing some things that aren't very appropriate, and that's where our guest, mr David Solomon. He's the house guest. So we have information, we have stories, we have experiences and this is an important moment to be able to, as we receive information and thoughts and ideas and all that, to bring awareness to these, again tough topics to talk about, to think about, to think could potentially be happening close to us, near us, and aren't always happening far, far away. So, david, thank you again for joining us on this episode and, as always, let's get started.

David Solomon:

Thank you, justin, for having me. You're welcome. Yeah, I was talking to the manager in Oregon City of a hotel. I was talking to the manager in Oregon City of a hotel and we were actually talking about what happened to me, and some people kind of remember a little bit of that story Because my mom was very savage and she would search the hotels out where I was held at in Seoul, and so I kind of want to talk about how hotels are taking responsibility and for you as people that stay at hotels or if you work at at hotels just to look for some signs. So if there is a kid that comes with a guest and they don't look like them, don't hesitate to call the police. If there's a large group of kids and they say they're from a church group, don't hesitate to call the police.

David Solomon:

These are two ways that human trafficking is very big in the state of Oregon, and had someone called the police the day that I was taken there, this would have never happened. So not all hotels are bad at all, but there are some that allow this to happen because it makes money. Allow this to happen because it makes money. When I was there, they put me on a list and this is a trigger warning. You know they sold me for what's called a QV, which apparently means quickie and I don't know what else, or HH, which is half an hour, or WH, which is whole hour, and so the person paying for time with me, the money would go to them and they would do what they want to me, which they did 200 people did. It's kind of amazing because growing up I thought like prostitution was not online where you can just access it like that. But these people just have these websites out there where they just type in what they want and meet up and it's so dangerous, so dangerous. So one thing that is really concerning with hotels is prostitution is huge and whenever you have people going in and out of a room, it's a sign of prostitution and that's a big, big problem. And and that's a big, big problem and you know, prostitution is illegal in the United States, but no one really cares.

David Solomon:

I met a prostitute in Raleigh, north Carolina. Actually, at treatment, my mom was investigating the site that I was sold on because she found it. I was sold on because she found it and people all over the internet found it, and I just listened to what this prostitute had to say because she was older and she knew a lot of things, and you know it's not right, but my mom nevertheless bought her a hotel room for a week and instead of, you know, watching her prostitute and all that she got her on her feet put her into a ministry at a church there. She's a worship leader now, by the way, nine years later, and she really helped me as a person, know that these things happen and you're not a mistake for them happening. That before I could move on because it affected every part of me. What happened and seeing God change her and I was in a dark place really moved me to change. And then my mom, you know, started raising awareness at hotels and, you know, educated what to look for.

David Solomon:

It's sad that most human trafficking cases actually take place in hotels. What happens is you meet up on a list I think it's called Alligator Listie or Crawler Listie. When I was put up for sale it was on Craigslist, but it has different names apparently every year. But they tell you the hotel room, you come in, you knock, you pay for your time and you go and these people that are prostitutes which technically I was one, whether willingly or not. They don't want this.

David Solomon:

Thankfully, I wasn't drugged, which was a miracle of God, but people that are, that are used sexually over and over and over, can't handle it, and so they just take drugs and opioids and they get high because they want to forget and they're just a body to use and that's a very dangerous place to be and very demonic in origin and I've seen it. It's oh, for the longest time. After what happened to me, my church called me the whore child, you know, which was not right. Still is it, but I had to forgive myself and say that happened and it was horrible, but God is with me and these are bruises and burns and they're not permanent and so they heal with time. And so my message today is about the topic that's very uncomfortable, about prostitution.

David Solomon:

People don't think that these people that are prostitutes have lives. They think they're homeless and that's just not it. A lot of prostitutes are doing this because they're in debt and they're good people and unfortunately, unfortunately, the devil has made men think one way and they see that and it's all a game to them and that's sad but true. I've gotten the honor of meeting, but true, I've gotten the honor of meeting a lot of men and women on this street when mom was doing her ministry, all I saw was brokenness. Mom would go out of her way to help them, guide them to whatever ministry she could. You know what's going on in their life, because they're a human being too, and we treat them as lesser because they're, you know what we call sluts, and they're not because you might be a slut to them. And so we judge people because of the way they dress or the way they look, their skin color, and that's not what Jesus wants us to do.

David Solomon:

Right, and although I'm not proud of it, one of the prostitutes that mom helped was a writer, and so I spent all night at a restaurant. It was, let me think, here, richmond, virginia, and my mom read her book and we just listened to what she had to say. She was a mom and she had a whole journey. And mom got her help with the mission, the gospel mission. She got her life turned around, but I got to really listen to what she'd endured. People that find out you're a prostitute. They kill you Because they think you're a demon or a succubus. In my mom's writing that she goes through, she actually wrote a prostitute series about someone that would go undercover and catch traffickers and I can't say the name of the series, which is a show, and catch traffickers. I can't say the name of the series, which is a show. She was very passionate because of what I went through, to see that these people had faces and stories and they have voices. We're talking about mental health.

David Solomon:

There was an individual in San Antonio His name was Mike, anyway, he was a prostitute. Me and mom had been living outside of San Antonio and she noticed him. I was afraid but she walked right up to him. She offered to go in her car and get some food for him, whatever he'd like. Anyway, a friendship grew where every morning she would take this young man food. He lived under the bridge at that time. He was homeless, he was a prostitute and it turned out that he was a drug addict. But a good guy, was a father, screwed up, did about 10 years in prison at the age of 14. Figured that one out, killed someone, became a prostitute to make ends meet and when mom showed him kindness, that reflected.

David Solomon:

About nine weeks later when someone jumped my mom. We were in downtown San Antonio and he was under the bridge and we were walking the riverwalk and someone jumped my mom. It was within a second of him doing his drugs and whatever he was doing over there that he saw that and he ran to that person that beat my mom up and he almost killed them and he said no one hurts good people. Police came, they didn't arrest him because he was defending my mom, believe it or not, and he turned his life around after that, went to a rehab clinic and got his daughter back. I don't know if he's married now, but he got his daughter back.

David Solomon:

His daughter was nine, bless his heart, and it was from that moment that I knew that prostitutes were people too. And so you know, I saw footage on a site of me when I was in that it was hard to swallow for a day, um, but then I said you know, that was then. I couldn't really do anything about it, and that was then. I couldn't really do anything about it. And that doesn't had to forgive myself for seeing that horrendous moment. I thank the person for coming forward that provided that, as hard as it was to see.

David Solomon:

And we talk about mental health and we talk about mental health and we talk about mental awareness and we talk about our vets and we talk about suicide and we talk about all these subjects, but we don't talk about prostitution and there's such a need for people caught in that to know that they're loved and to know that there's someone that cares for them.

David Solomon:

That's what my mom taught me and so I hope to follow that legacy. That's actually why I don't surround myself with a lot of guys. Honestly, I was raised by my mom and so a lot of my mentors in the writing world are women and that's just a fact. And that's only because I was raised by my mom and and I respect women because my mom was a single parent and she raised me and she did a hell of a job. And it's not to say I have select few people that are guys, but very select, because all the guys failed me in in trying to be a someone to look up to. Brian James, you know the list goes on. So it's really hard for you, the listener, looking at a prostitute, and say I care about this person. You should, because they're a follower of Christ, they're his children. You don't know where they come from, you don't know what their mindset is, you don't know what they're going through in that moment and that's so important.

David Solomon:

And if you stay at a hotel like the Best Western in Oregon City, know the signs. Allegedly, sarah Rose drove me up with Shiloh Clover now in the white van to the Oregon City Hotel, right by my mom, to sell me. It still fathoms me why I didn't say anything. But I know I'd been starved and like I was beside myself, I was sweating and fever. I saw the video. It was something. But the signs were there. I didn't look like them. They held me by the wrist. They said we're here to check in. They paid cash. They made sure that it wasn't a ground floor so that they could secure all the exits. It was a dangerous moment. That was a dangerous moment.

David Solomon:

Another podcast a year ago, I think it was T-Rev. I spoke on what happened at that hotel. I was crucified for it and that's fine. But I want the world to know that this happens every day. I was just one out of hundreds sure in that hotel and it's so horrifying to know this is happening. There was a La Quinta in Des Moines I was sold to and another hotel in Fife, washington, and it's the same idea. They look for a second floor and tell that security so that pimps can watch the floor, instead of a ground floor where there's a lobby and there's more security, instead of a ground floor where there's a lobby and there's more security. That's just. That's a sign you have to watch out for is people coming in and out of a hotel room? You know it's not a good thing Unless you're having, like, a birthday party or something. You know so. But my message today is you never know what someone else is going through.

David Solomon:

And prostitution is so big and heavy on my heart because it was heavy on my mom's and she went out of her way to help women that were caught in a bad place and men and, for that matter, transgenders too and she would get them back on the right track. She helped a young woman in Roseburg, oregon. There was a woman in Astoria. She, she didn't make it, she, she, she didn't want to get clean in the end, so she overdosed herself in front of my mom. I wasn't there, my mom was in deep prayer and she overdosed. She overdosed.

David Solomon:

It was hard on my mom because she said you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped or saved, and she didn't want to. It's a hard moment. It was a very hard moment. So my mom would go out of her way to reach out and say it's going to be okay, and to the person that they took my mom from me you robbed the world of a gem. So don't judge a book by its cover and know that people out there enough and by just simply saying how are you today? Go out of your comfort zone. Jesus didn't hang around people that were rich and, in the world's terms, perfect. He hung around people that were sinners, prostitutes, actually Gamblers, gamblers. He saved them, he talked to them, and those are the people that need reach.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

So that is my message for today thank you, thank you for being so as always, so transparent. That is my message for today. Thank you, thank you for being so as always, so transparent, talking about sensitive topics and, especially, lending your experiences as well Would you care to close us out with a prayer?

David Solomon:

Yeah, that would be fine. One thing I will say before that is, in my experience, after the first hotel, I was coming up through Oregon City and there's a Shiloh Inn. Shiloh happened to be the person that was sitting beside me in the white van. I watched people come out of that inn that were being prostituted and all I saw was I'm never going to make it out of this with them and I encourage anyone listening that is caught in that you can, but you have to make the first step and say I want to leave this. All right, here we go. All right, here we go.

David Solomon:

Okay, father god, for anyone that is caught in an addiction, help them to know that you can help them through that.

David Solomon:

You are the ultimate divine doctor and physician.

David Solomon:

Lord um, watch over everyone that is in a hard place, lord, in this mess that we are in, as we continue to pray for mercy, lord, for truth to be revealed in this situation, in the case and in Realm and Scott and Brian and James and Shiloh and all these people involved, lord and Quinn and Sarah Kaleen and all the people involved, we pray for your angels of protection around the victims, the survivors that have endured.

David Solomon:

We pray for your angels of protection around their children, as they've endured. We pray for mercy to prevail. We pray for truth to come to light. We pray for the people who are innocent to not be preyed on and that you would just shield them from this darkness that is plunging into your kingdom and that you would kick that out. We thank you for all the good things that you do each and every day for us. We thank you for the doors that you've shut so that other, bigger doors can open. We thank you that truth is being revealed. We thank you for strength and endurance spiritually, mentally, physically and we thank you for having the opportunity to share these moments for viewers to hear. Thank you in your precious name, amen.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Check out our catalog of over 250 episodes. Be a voice for you or somebody in need, and if you or somebody you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, thoughts to 988 on the text, you can go to 988hotlineorg. Talk to somebody 24-7, english and Spanish. You are not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. So until next time. I'm Justin Alan Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices. Please be a voice for you or somebody in need, and God bless you and the United States of America and everyone across the world. We'll see you later, next time, bye-bye.

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