Yurok Tribe investigator rescues woman from potential human trafficking

PORT ORFORD, Ore.– The Yurok Tribe’s missing and murdered indigenous people investigator recently helped rescue a young woman in Port Orford.

The tribe said homeless advocates in Port Orford witnessed a young woman running away from a known human trafficker.

Once the tribe’s MMIP and a tribal court caseworker were notified, they traveled to the homeless camp where they found the young woman and brought her to a Sacramento hospital.

The young woman is a victim of sexual abuse but has since been reunited with her foster parents and even has a part time job.

Yurok MMIP Julie Oliveira said, “it’s amazing how many people have started to reach out as I become more known as a person doing this job. It just shows how much more need there is and how they need to figure out how to get more people to do this.”

Olivieira said there are dozens of cases she’s currently working on from the past three years.

She has also received three new cases in the past week.