Published: Wed, 07/27/2016 - 9:06am
The Attorney General's Office of Colorado is hosting a Labor Trafficking Seminar on July 21st from 1:00 - 5:00 pm in Conference Room 1D at the Ralph Carr Justice Center. This seminar will feature speakers from a variety of disciplines to discuss the issue of labor trafficking and how it is being tackled at the national and state level.
Our speakers are:
Novak – Polaris
Kristen Heiman – Homeland Security Investigations
Benitez – FBI
Pat Medige – Colorado Legal Services
Maria Trujillo – Colorado Human Trafficking Council; Colorado Division of Criminal Justice
Thursday, July 21, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (MDT)
Parking
Two-hour metered parking is available on three sides of the Judicial Center -Lincoln, Broadway, and 13th Avenue. Additional metered parking may be found east of the building on 13th Avenue, south on Lincoln (some meters offer 5-hour parking), and south on Broadway. Additionally, there’s a parking garage at the Civic Center Cultural Complex on 12th Avenue, just west of Broadway. There are also several cash only parking lots available on the south side of the Art Museum/Culture Center on 12th Avenue and Acoma.
Reserve tickets here
More about the Speakers
Maria A. Trujillo currently serves as the Human Trafficking Program Manager at the Colorado Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, Office for Victims Programs. In this role Ms. Trujillo coordinates the efforts of the Colorado Human Trafficking Council that was legislatively established by the Colorado General Assembly through HB 14-1273. Ms. Trujillo joined the division in December 2014 after spending the previous six years in Houston, TX as the Executive Director of the non-profit organization, United Against Human Trafficking (UAHT), whose mission is to prevent and confront human trafficking by raising public awareness, training front-line professionals and empowering the community to take action.
Prior to her time at UAHT, Ms. Trujillo lived in Washington, DC where she worked for an international development organization called Health Volunteers Overseas. While living in DC she also obtained her master’s degree in International Communications at American University. Ms. Trujillo also holds a BA in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College. Ms. Trujillo has served as a speaker and expert technical advisor on the issue of human trafficking at the national, state and local levels, including being invited to the White House to participate in a stakeholder meeting to advise the government on their federal strategic action plan to address human trafficking. Ms. Trujillo has also been recognized for her work on combating human trafficking as a “Circles of Change” honoree by Building Bridges for Peace (2012) and a "Table Talk" honoree by the University of Houston’s Friends of Women’s Studies (2015).
Jenna Novak is a Regional Specialist in Polaris's Advisory Services team as well as the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, covering the western part of the United States. In her role at Polaris, Ms. Novak has provided trainings and consultations to a variety of audiences including but not limited to federal and local law enforcement, service providers, judges, prosecutors, child welfare entities, juvenile justice agencies, health care professionals and larger task forces and coalitions. Ms. Novak’s expertise includes engagement with public, private and non-profit stakeholders on the ground to improve responses to human trafficking. She has worked with state Attorney Generals offices in order implement statewide human trafficking training to state entities and developed tailored materials and protocols in order to enhance states’ human trafficking response. Ms. Novak also specializes in the intersections of domestic violence and sexual assault and human trafficking, hotline operations, and trafficking in tribal communities.
Prior to joining Polaris, Ms. Novak worked in West Africa with various organizations focusing on sex trafficking, women's economic empowerment, and human rights. She has years of experience in the domestic violence and sexual assault field providing direct assistance for victims and survivors in various roles including Safehouse Manager, Crisis Consultant, and Case Manager. Ms. Novak has a Masters in International Development and Service from University of Roehampton in London where she wrote her thesis on managing shelter programs for survivors of trafficking and exploitation. She has a dual Bachelor's degree in Sociology, Criminology and Society and Human Services where she graduated magna cum laude.
Patricia Medige, Esq. has been an advocate for low-wage workers and crime victims at Colorado nonprofits since 1995. She represents foreign national and domestic human trafficking survivors in crime victim immigration petitions, family reunification, civil litigation, criminal justice advocacy, benefits issues and other civil matters. Recent litigation resulted in the first Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that victims of trafficking are entitled to punitive damages. Francisco et al. v. Susano et al., 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10648. In August, 2014, Ms. Medige was appointed to the Colorado gubernatorial Human Trafficking Council established under state statute. She is a past co-chair of the Freedom Network (USA) (2011-2013) and was honored to be a co-recipient of the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award in 2009. She has published four law review articles, three of which are related to human trafficking.
Special Agent Stephanie Benitez joined the FBI in 2002 and started in Los Angeles where she served on a Violent Crime/Organized Crime squad investigating crimes against children, gangs, fugitives, and take-over bank robberies. During this time, SA Benitez served as a certified police instructor and a diver on the FBI's Underwater Search and Evidence Recovery Team. In 2008, SA Benitez was promoted to the Crimes Against Children Unit as a Supervisor for the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team. In 2010, SA Benitez took over as the FBI's National Human Trafficking Program Manager in Washington, D.C. In January 2012, SA Benitez moved to Denver, Colorado and is currently a case agent assigned to work Organized Crime and Civil Rights investigations, specializing in human trafficking cases. SA Benitez is part of the Colorado Trafficking and Organized Crime Coalition (C-TOCC) which is composed of several local and state Colorado law enforcement agencies as well as Federal agencies.
Kristen Heiman is a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and is currently assigned to the Smuggling/Public Safety Group at the Office of the Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Denver, Colorado. SA Heiman is currently the main point of contact for all human trafficking leads and tips for HSI in the Denver metro area as well as human trafficking outreach efforts. SA Heiman has been assigned to HSI SAC Denver since 2002 and has worked in several investigative areas to include; child exploitation and cybercrime, counter proliferation and narcotics investigations.