Former sex 貿易（する） 労働者 fighting trafficking in oil patch
WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) ― When she first arrived in town, Windie Lazenko 長，率いるd to the neon-lit （土地などの）細長い一片 clubs and 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s catering to lonely oil field 労働者s with extra cash and time on their 手渡すs. She knew these were likely 集会 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs for the sex 貿易（する） ― the life she'd given up long ago.
For nearly two １０年間s, Lazenko was part of that illicit world, starting as a 13-year-old runaway when, she says, she was bought and sold for sex. 売春, pornography and （土地などの）細長い一片 clubs followed. Then she walked away from it all. She 結局 moved to Montana and a few years ago, while 助言 at-危険 girls, she began 審理，公聴会 about young women 存在 新採用するd for 売春 in the Bakken oilfields. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to help.
Lazenko is now one of the most 目だつ 行動主義者s in the fight against sex trafficking in the oil patch. She's worked with 連邦の 検察官，検事s, the 連邦検察局 and police, 証言するd before 明言する／公表する 国会議員s and 演説（する）／住所d church and school groups. She also has formed an advocacy-資源 group, 4her North Dakota, reaching out to victimized women.
In this Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 photo, Windie Lazenko, with the anti-trafficking group 4her North Dakota, stands for a photo in 前線 of a club in Williston, N.D. As a 13-year-old runaway, Lazenko says she was bought and sold for sex. 売春, pornography and （土地などの）細長い一片 clubs followed. Then she walked away from it all. She 結局 moved to Montana and a few years ago, while 助言 at-危険 girls, she began 審理，公聴会 about young women 存在 新採用するd for 売春 in the Bakken oilfields. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to help. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
"I speak their language from the get-go," she says. "I'm not 法律 施行. I'm not out there to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする them. They don't have to play the game with me. They're going to 尊敬（する）・点 me and I'm going to 尊敬（する）・点 them. ... I know what it is to be out there."
Lazenko's advocacy comes as 明言する／公表する 国会議員s are considering several new 対策 ― 含むing stiffer 刑罰，罰則s for pimps and more money to help 犠牲者s ― to 戦闘 the Bakken sex 貿易（する）.
In 議会, several bipartisan 法案s are 未解決の designed to 割れ目 負かす／撃墜する on trafficking and 確実にする that minors who are sold for sex are 扱う／治療するd as 犠牲者s, not 犯罪のs. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota 民主党員 has been の中で the most 声の 立法議員s, co-sponsoring several 対策 and bringing 連邦の 公式の／役人s to the 明言する／公表する to train 当局 on how to identify trafficking.
法律 施行 says the Bakken is a made-to-order market for trafficking: Thousands of men, far from home, are 穴を開けるd up in a remote place with ready cash and not many places to spend it. 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and （土地などの）細長い一片 clubs are one 選択. Online 場所／位置s also are filled with 地元の 広告s such as "団体／死体 2 団体／死体 Experience."
In the past year or so, Lazenko says she's helped several trafficking 犠牲者s ― arranging for women to be taken to 避難所s after they've fled their pimps or even 開始 her own apartment to them. She's also 護衛するd some women to 法廷，裁判所 or 会合s with 検察官，検事s trying to make 事例／患者s against traffickers.
At 46, Lazenko, is a grandmother of three, but in her short leather jacket, ジーンズs and knit cap pulled 負かす／撃墜する tightly over chin-length hair, she could be mistaken for a college student.
Though her past gives her 信用性, Lazenko says getting trafficked women to walk away is difficult. "When these girls buy into their lives, their minds are made up," she says. "The 救助（する） mentality really doesn't work. They don't even consider themselves 犠牲者s."
It's いつかs hard, too, to 納得させる police that women are 存在 coerced, Lazenko says. She points to one woman she helped who, she says, was beaten by her pimp when she wasn't 会合 her $1,000-a-day 割当. "That's human trafficking," she says. "That's not 売春."
Lazenko has won the 尊敬（する）・点 of many in 法律 施行, 含むing U.S. 弁護士／代理人／検事 Tim Purdon who calls her "the real 取引，協定" and says she's made a 抱擁する difference in 取り組むing sex trafficking. "You don't have to be a ロケット／急騰する scientist to know that she can relate to these 犠牲者s," he says.
Lazenko's own story begins with a troubled childhood in California. By her own account, she was sexually 乱用d as a child and at age 13, she ran away, getting i nvolved with people who trafficked her. By 16, she was married. By 19, she was a mother.
What followed was a life of 性の 開発／利用, she says, that she やめる at age 32. Lazenko says it took years ― and a newfound 宗教的な 約束 ― to get on 跡をつける.
She still has 悔いるs about her past. "I would go the grocery 蓄える／店 in my stripper shoes with my kids ... with T-shirts on that said 'Porn 星／主役にする.' I had no shame," she says. "When I look 支援する on that, it makes me sick to my stomach."
That life 損失d her 関係 with her five kids, now 18 to 28.
"It's a 奇蹟 that things are working out the way that they are," Lazenko says. "It's not perfect. ... They 苦しむd a lot because of the things that happened in my life, choices I made. I'm not going to say I was a 犠牲者 100 パーセント of the time ... but slowly but surely, my kids are coming around."
One of her goals is to 設立する a 30-day 緊急 避難所 for trafficking 犠牲者s. These women, she says, have special needs not 利用できる in the already （人が）群がるd 国内の 暴力／激しさ 避難所s.
一方／合間, Lazenko continues to encourage 犠牲者s that there's a way out.
"I tell them that they were created for more than this, that they have value and talents and they deserve a better life," she says. "There's hope, there's hope. It's just a 思い出の品 for me too, that even on the bad days, there is hope."
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Sharon Cohen, a Chicago-based 国家の writer, can be reached at scohen@ap.org.
Former sex 労働者 Windie Lazenko, with the anti-trafficking group 4her North Dakota, is 活発に （選挙などの）運動をするing against 売春 in the oil fields and is looking to help the 犠牲者s 存在 trafficked into the area
In this Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 photo, Tara Bjornson, assistant director of the 国内の 暴力／激しさ 危機 中心, stands by a bed in an unoccupied room at the 中心's 緊急 避難所 in Minot, N.D. Sex trafficking has become a big problem in North Dakota まっただ中に an oil にわか景気 that has brought in money and oil 労働者s - and Bjornson said the 避難所 has seen an 増加する in sex trafficking 犠牲者s at its 施設 in the past year. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)
This man, pictured, had arranged to 会合，会う up with a 売春婦 in a North Dakota motel, but was 逮捕（する）d?
Police in Monet, North Dakota 逮捕（する）d 13 men in one sting who answered adverts for an 護衛する ?
A police officer 護衛するs a man 逮捕（する）d for 売春 solicitation at a hotel in Minot, N.D., in the 早期に morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Sex trafficking has become a big problem in North Dakota まっただ中に an oil にわか景気 that has brought in money and oil 労働者s. The Minot police sting ended with the 逮捕（する）s of 13 men, who answered 広告s on an 護衛する website 地位，任命するd by the undercover officers. (AP Photo/Martha I rvine)
手錠s used on men 逮捕（する）d for 売春 solicitation sit on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at a hotel in Minot, N.D., on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Sex trafficking has become a big problem in North Dakota まっただ中に an oil にわか景気 that has brought in money and oil 労働者s. The Minot police sting ended with the 逮捕（する）s of 13 men, who answered 広告s on an 護衛する website 地位，任命するd by the undercover officers. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)
