Gate agents see a lot during their work days, and they meet people from all over the globe. However, when one gate agent saw two teenage girls traveling alone, she immediately sensed that something was not right.

As a gate agent for American Airlines, Denice Miracle had learned in her recent training that around 14,000 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Human trafficking is actually the third largest international crime in the world behind drug smuggling and illegal arms trafficking, and though you may think it only affects foreigners, American girls are targeted as well.

Denice met the two teenagers when she was working the ticket counter in Sacramento, and her instincts told her right away that something was off about them.

“I think the way they kept looking back-and-forth at each other like they weren’t really sure. And then they were texting someone on the phone, and that person was giving them answers,” Denice said.

Aged 15 and 17, the girls wanted to leave their “small-time” life in Sacramento and go to the big city in New York to live with a man they met online. The man had bought the girls first class tickets so that they could fly right into his trap in luxury.

“It was a first-class ticket. It was very expensive. I told a supervisor, ‘I’m going to call the sheriff. It just doesn’t feel right to me,'” Denice recalled.

Police arrived right away and rushed to stop the human trafficker from getting the girls onto the plane. Police learned from the girls that the man had bought them tickets to New York so that they could try out for his “modeling” gig. He said he would pay them $2,000 if they came.

The girls decided to take the offer and told their parents they would be sleeping at each other’s houses. Instead, they headed for the airport. The girls did not believe police when they told them that the man was actually trying to traffic them.

“They were somewhat flippant about – ‘No, that can’t be true!’ – and I said, ‘No, the airline says you have a one-way ticket, and in my belief, you’re going back there not to do the things that you think you were going to be doing,'” Deputy Todd Sanderson said.

By calling the police, Denice actually saved the lives of these two girls!

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