ATLANTIC CITY — Human trafficking is “extremely pervasive” in the area, the county’s top law enforcement officer said Friday during an event in which three victim advocacy groups received funds from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City to help fight the practice.
Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said sex trafficking is common in Atlantic City, adding that labor trafficking, often of undocumented immigrants, occurs in rural areas of the county.
“In Atlantic City, I think it’s extremely pervasive,” Reynolds said. “A lot of it is in the shadows. All the way out to Hammonton and down to Atlantic City, you have labor trafficking because you have illegal immigrants that are brought in especially during harvest season.
“And you have Atlantic City with 28 million visitors, and people come here to have fun, and what they do here, they leave here, just like Vegas,” Reynolds said. “There’s an overwhelming demand for it. People are opportunistic and bring other people here to make money off them.”
Reynolds did not have arrest statistics on human trafficking, but he and victim advocates agreed said many such cases often generate related charges like child endangerment, wage violations and other offenses.
Hard Rock gave $5,000 each to three local groups that fight human trafficking and help victims: HR Recovery Initiative, Avanzar and Covenant House.
“This is happening absolutely everywhere — in your neighborhood, in your town, in your school system,” said Dawne Lomangino-DiMauro, a director with Pleasantville-based Avanzar. “It could be your neighbor. It’s not normal for a 15-year-old to be in a hotel room with a 55-year-old. Please, keep your eyes open.”
She said sex trafficking “is happening everywhere.”
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“It’s not just casinos,” she said. “There are out-calls, there are in-calls. There are homes set up as residential brothels.”
Last year, Avanzar assisted 116 trafficking victims, 111 of whom were under the age of 21. Most were between the ages of 12 and 18, but some were as young as 8, Lomangino-DiMauro said.
Although many victims are referred to the groups by the courts, law enforcement or state child welfare agencies, some victims reach out for help on their own, either through telephone hotlines or by scanning a QR code that can be found on hand dryers in casino, hotel and airport restrooms.
The first step is getting them to a safe place, out of reach of their traffickers, where they can be cleaned up, fed and evaluated, said Cristine Knight, executive director of the Ventnor-based HR Recovery Initiative.
From there, advocates work on connecting victims with social services, health resources and legal help. It can take two to four years to successfully recover and exit from a trafficking situation, which takes lot of help, Knight said.
One of the most important parts of the process is simply trying to convince a victim they deserve better, said Amy Hoover, a case manager with Avanzar.
“A lot of times, they don’t feel like they have the self-worth to be more than this,” she said. “We tell them, ‘Yes, you do.’”
Since 2020, Covenant House has assisted 412 trafficking survivors, said Ashley Connors, a resource specialist with the group. Last year, it had 227 clients, 46% of whom had been sex trafficked, 44% of whom had been labor trafficked, and 10% of whom had endured both types of exploitation.
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Mike Sampson, Hard Rock’s general manager, said the company has trained more than 27,000 employees on how to recognize potential cases of human trafficking worldwide. In 2024, Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming announced an ongoing commitment to fight human trafficking with new support tools for victims and those at risk, a youth education program, new training and projects with community partners.
Victims of human trafficking can get help by calling hotlines at 800-286-4184 or 609-646-6767, or by texting 609-569-5437.