RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. – Jennifer Beagle knows human trafficking from experience. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, trafficking, addiction and homelessness, Beagle has spent the last 24 years overcoming the life she once lived and helping others escape it.
Beagle was the keynote speaker at a human trafficking seminar hosted by First Baptist Church in Russell Springs Friday, where she offered insight into a world that most people know very little about and often do not understand.
Human trafficking is defined as “a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes of compelled labor or a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.” It can affect anyone of any race, gender, economic status or age.
Beagle said Kentucky has a significant need for awareness and resources to combat human trafficking.
Kentucky is ranked in the top 10 for child abuse, opioid abuse, familial trafficking and human trafficking.
“We are in the top 10 of everything. We are in the top 10 of everything by a national statistic,” she said.
Beagle founded Her Hope Kentucky to continue helping youth and adults who are victims of human trafficking. She has been out of her old life and sober for 24 years.
Beagle’s journey began when she was a child. She was the youngest of seven children and grew up with an alcoholic father who would beat and rape her mother in front of her and her siblings. At 7 years old, Beagle was groomed and molested by her uncle.
She said he would say things to her such as, “I am your favorite uncle, right?” She said of course he was because she was getting positive attention from him unlike at home. Even though he was molesting her, she was used to seeing her dad beat her mom, call her names, and treat her terribly.
“By the time I am 10 or 11, I’m a full-blown alcoholic, I am in trouble at school and I’m in the system,” said Beagle. “By the time I am 14 years old, I get taken away from my mom, and dad’s out of the picture completely by now. I was put into foster care.
“My foster dad owned a big dairy farm with many farm hands, and he molested me, raped me one night and then started selling me to the farm hands,” she said.
Beagle said she thought these things were normal. She was raised this way and did not know any different. She did not realize that what was happening to her was not normal, and it was also illegal.
Beagle ran away and lived homeless from 16 until she was 31. She started using drugs and prostituting.
“When I was 19, I married my first husband who was two times my age. I was 19, he was 38. I had my first child. Divorced him. I married my second husband who was just like my father,” she said. “By the time I am 24 years old, his [second husband] sister is trafficking me to her drug dealer.”
At this time, Beagle began using crack cocaine with her sister-in-law. During that time, trafficking was not considered an issue. People being trafficked were labeled as prostitutes and no one cared what was happening to them. The mentality was that they were getting what they deserved.
Over the next few months, Beagle lost custody of her son. She continued to use drugs, prostitute, was in and out of drug houses, ate out of dumpsters and lived on the streets in Gainesville, Florida.
She had a “pimp” that would beat her if she did not bring enough money in each night. Beagle had been arrested numerous times, had been to rehabilitation centers, drug court and 12-step programs and continued to end up back on the streets.
“At 31, I locked myself in a closet with one of my abusers on the other side, and I cried out to a God I did not know,” said Beagle. “So, I cried out to Jesus and I said, ‘if you are real, God, just take my life, I’m ready to die.’”
Beagle had attempted suicide numerous times. Her cocaine addiction was up to $1,000 a day. She slept with numerous men a day to pay for the drugs and line the pockets of the one trafficking her.
“I met Jesus in that closet and he said, ‘Alright Jennifer, I can do something with you,’” she said. “It was a safe voice, which was new for me, so I welcomed that voice to speak to me and I said okay.”
She fell asleep in that closet. When she awoke, she walked into the local jail and turned herself in. All the criminal charges were taken care of and Beagle overcame her addiction.
For the next year, she still found herself struggling with being accepted by men. Beagle said she focused on Jesus and the new community of people that she now had. She knew she wanted and needed a healthy life.
She completely stopped all habits and behaviors that a healthy person does not do. Then she felt convicted to help women who were stuck in her previous lifestyle. She realized that she finally understood the trauma that she had experienced her entire life.
“I understood the evil of addiction. I understood why this was happening to me. I understood that my uncle that molested me at seven also became my regular customer at 27. I understood the trauma,” said Beagle.
Beagle began to go back into the streets and began passing out hygiene products, study Bibles, and talking to the prostitutes who were living the life she was set free from.
In 2010, Beagle started a women’s program in Gainesville called House of Hope. For the next eight years, House of Hope became a thriving program. Judges that had formerly sentenced Beagle to jail were now sentencing people to her program.
She began working with the FBI and other law enforcement, and became advocates of the court. House of Hope became one of the largest survival organizations in the state of Florida.
“It was great. At some points we had 100 percent success rate and we never fell below an 80 percent success rate,” she said.
In 2017, Beagle received the National FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award.
“Out of 360 million people in America and I was chosen to win this award for combatting sex trafficking on the streets in Gainesville,” she said. “That was an honor because I was once on the most wanted list. That was definitely a proud moment in my life.”
She reunited with her son and moved to Kentucky in 2018. Beagle knew that God was leading her to continue helping people.
Beagle founded Her Hope Kentucky to continue helping youth and adults who are victims of human trafficking. Through her organization, she continues to share her story and work with those who have experienced the same trauma she once did.
“Community means common unity. There is a common unity between you and the victim. Finding that common unity is where good conversations start happening, and then healing starts happening,” said Beagle.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
