JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Courtney Varela sold her body for years to feed her drug addiction.
She said she is one of many women who are trapped into prostitution by pimps who use drugs to control and abuse people like her.
She shared her story with News4Jax in the hopes that more people will begin to see opioid addiction as a dangerous tool used by sex traffickers.
According to police, prostitutes are under the influence "almost all of the time" when they are arrested.
In the last five years, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has increased its staff for the Narcotics Unit with extra narcotics investigators to fight against the problem of addicted sex trafficking victims.
Varela said she was a victim of abuse as a child, and at 18 years old, it only became worse. As a single mother, she decided to work in a strip club to make ends meet.
"The older girls that worked there knew I was vulnerable and approached me and said, 'Hey, try this.' I was hooked instantly the first time I tried any opioids,” Varela said.
She became addicted to pills, spending $300 to $400 a day, even when she got pregnant with a second child.
“I did drugs for half of that pregnancy. I did heroin. I quit the second half of it (and) delivered a healthy baby boy,” Varela said. “After his birth, I went back to it.”
She said that's when she was approached by a man who promised her drugs in advance.
But she said that to pay for those drugs, her pimp forced her to sell her body on Philips Highway.
“They will say, 'OK, if you don’t stand out there and wait for a car to pick you up and get my money, I'm going to beat you up. I'm going to kill you,'” Varela said.
Varela was arrested in February 2016 for prostitution, and entered rehab. She has been drug free for a year and a half and plans to become a substance abuse counselor and open a shelter to help others.
Groups working to help people like Varela and fight human trafficking are hosting Freedom Fest from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Christ's Church on Greenland Road in Mandarin. The music festival includes For King & Country, Britt Nicole, Mac Powell of Third Day, Danny Gokey and Brinson. Tickets are $10 per person in advance. For more information, visit https://www.freedomfestjax.com.