TIFFANY SIMPSON IS FREE!!!

Please join us as we push to free other survivors and advance affirmative defense and vactur laws to ensure no survivor of trafficking is incarcerated as a result of their own trafficking!

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At 17 years old, Tiffany Simpson had already been sex trafficked to countless men, raped and stabbed by her 34 year old trafficker. She tried to escape, her trafficker threatened to kill her unborn baby and burn her grandmother’s house down. Saying she was not making enough money, her trafficker lured another teen girl to him using Tiffany’s phone, she was trapped. 

When the police came, Tiffany thought they were going to rescue her. They arrested her instead. 

She was sentenced to 30 YEARS  in jail for the very crime that was done to her and her own trafficking was never investigated. Tiffany has been in jail for almost 10 years.

On November 21, Tiffany will have a chance at freedom when her pro bono attorney, Susan P. Coppedge asserts that as a victim of child sex trafficking, her sentence and record should be fully vacated. The decision could come as soon as that day.

We need YOUR HELP.

Every very signature and contribution matters to bring her home.

Tiffany’s young life was one she says had a lack of love. At 6 years old, her father was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Her mother lost custody of her due to her own depression and struggles with alcohol. At 13, Tiffany was sent to live with her grandmother. Tiffany had been abandoned by her parents. She soon turned to looking for love from boys who exploited her sadness and began trading her for sex and drugs. Each time the police would find Tiffany, they would send her back to her grandmother.  

Her trafficker began exploiting and selling her for the first time when she was just 14 years old. By 17, Tiffany was no longer in school and under her traffickers' complete control. No one came to rescue Tiffany. Tiffany was trapped. Even when she was stabbed in the leg and bleeding in front of nurses at the hospital, no one tried to ask Tiffany if she needed to help and she was too scared to speak up.

Tiffany abandoned her own safety to try to save her unborn baby.  

From jail, Tiffany shares "He was 34, violent and a known criminal. I was a girl looking for fatherly love. You’ve all heard of “daddy’s girls,” right? I wanted to be one but my father was never around. Neither was my mom. My grandmother tried to raise me. I was angry and hurt all the time. So even that tiny little bit of fake love that my trafficker offered me felt like an ocean of kindness.

That didn’t last long. Soon, he was calling me names and hitting me. By the end, he had gotten me pregnant and stabbed me in the leg multiple times. He threatened to kill me and burn my grandmother’s house down. I was in fear and never knew when he would strike again. The drugs he gave me left me weak. Even as my belly grew, I was forced to have sex with 10 to 30 men a day. I started using even more drugs to numb my mind. The chains were heavier. I didn’t have the word then but I do now. I was a slave."

A year after Tiffany was sentenced to 30 years, she wrote to the co-creator of Karana Rising, a non profit agency that advocates and serves survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and assault. Tiffany asked, “am I victim of sex trafficking or a prostitute?” Thus began this 9 year journey of advocating for her freedom.

Tiffany has obtained her GED, is in school and has become an advocate for other incarcerated survivors at Karana Rising. She is completing her degree in cosmetology. Upon her release, Tiffany plans to join the Karana Rising team as a survivor leader and attend college. 

Tiffany has never swam in the ocean. Her dream is to live on the beach her her son and help other girls in the ways she was never helped. 

Tiffany’s incredible journey is featured in a short 5 minute animated documentary, Lack of Love, directed by Noel Keserwany and narrated by Tiffany herself.

When asked what led to her trafficking, Tiffany stated, "it was a total lack of love."

Tiffany is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of many survivors of human trafficking who experience arrest and incarceration as a result of their trafficking. Many survivors, like Tiffany, do not realize they are victims of trafficking and not criminals. Many traffickers force their victims to commit crimes as a way to control them and ensure they feel trapped into continuing to be trafficked and exploited. They tell them if they try to escape, that no one will believe them. It’s called forced criminality. 

Sadly, in Tiffany's case, her trafficker was right. No one believed her.

Many public defenders and defense attorney’s do not identify their clients as victims of human trafficking. Tiffany’s attorney referred to her as “damaged goods” during her sentencing.  This is not justice.

Tiffany deserves freedom. Help us bring Tiffany home!

Learn more at: www.freetiffany.org how you can help Tiffany and other survivors like her be free. Please spread the word! Follow us at @wearekaranarising on Instagram to stay updated in real time on Tiffany's case.