“When I told them that they didn’t have a flight home, that’s when it kind of sunk in that maybe I was actually telling the truth,” said the officer who responded to the call, Deputy Todd Sanderson. “In my opinion, what was going to happen was they were going to go back to New York and become victims of sex trafficking. They said they wouldn’t have let that happen, and I said they probably wouldn’t have had a choice.”
Drey deleted all of his social media accounts within minutes of receiving the call from the girls and his phone line also stopped working, alerting authorities even further to an online predator scheme.
Thankfully, the teens were able to head safely home with their parents that night, though Sanderson believes their fate could have been much different if they boarded that plane.
“I’m very, very thankful Ms. Miracle with American Airlines was able to use her intuition and concern and actually say something,” he said. “Without her, I wouldn’t have been called and we wouldn’t have intervened with these girls.”
Sanderson later pointed out that the name of this highly-alert angel in disguise certainly suits her:
“She probably really was their miracle that day, whether they want to believe it or not.”
To request help or report suspected human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Or text HELP to: BeFree (233733).