Defining Justice Beyond Arrest and Prosecution

Bill Woolf serves as Principal Deputy Director for the Office for Victims of Crime and Senior Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Justice Programs. Mr. Woolf has been with Department since December 2019, and currently works as the Director of Human Trafficking Programs. Mr. Woolf began his career as a police officer, was promoted to detective, and assigned to work on the Gang Investigations Unit. There, Mr. Woolf discovered the relationship between gangs and human trafficking and became dedicated to combatting the issue. Additionally, Mr. Woolf was instrumental in starting a human trafficking task force in northern Virginia. He was assigned to coordinate enforcement and interdiction efforts with other regional, state, and federal law enforcement and forge partnerships with nongovernmental agencies that could provide necessary services to those victimized by human trafficking. In the first two years, the task force identified 217 victims of sex and labor trafficking and recovered over 126 of them. Mr. Woolf also founded, and served as Executive Director to, the Just Ask Prevention Project, aimed at ending human trafficking. He led the effort to develop a systematic approach of education, prevention, and intervention in implementing effective strategies in addressing the threat of human trafficking to communities.

Colleen Owens is an expert on human trafficking with over a decade of experience directing and implementing U.S. and international research and training and technical assistance projects funded by the U.S. Department of State, National Institute of Justice, and Bureau of Justice Assistance. She currently serves as a technical assistance provider with the national human trafficking training and technical assistance team, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and led by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in collaboration with AEquitas and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Through this work, she provides technical assistance and training and is involved in labor trafficking curriculum development for the federally funded human trafficking task forces. In addition to this work, Ms. Owens is the recent Founder and CEO of THE WHY, a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating modern slavery, promoting and supporting sustainable and ethical design, and economically empowering survivors. Prior to founding THE WHY, she served as Senior Research Associate with the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center where she codirected an over $4.1 million portfolio of research on human trafficking in the U.S. and several foreign countries.

Detective Scaramucci began his career in law enforcement in 2004 and was promoted to Detective in 2008 with the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, investigating Crimes Against Persons. Since initiating investigations in Human Trafficking in 2014, Detective Scaramucci has participated in John Suppression events, arresting over 450 sex buyers. Since 2015 he has conducted sting operations resulting in the arrest of approximately 135 individuals for Human Trafficking and related offenses, which lead to the identification of approximately 250 trafficking victims. Detective Scaramucci has worked both State and Federal investigation as a Task Force Officer with H.S.I., which has led to investigations and arrests throughout the U.S. and Canada. He has also lead and trained numerous agencies throughout the U.S. on how to conduct these operations, along with operations targeting Illicit Massage Parlors. Detective Scaramucci is certified in Courts of Law as a Subject Matter Expert in Human Trafficking. He is further employed as a consultant for the Polaris Project, and Collective Liberty, training more than 278 agencies throughout the 29 states, 11 federal agencies, branches of the U.S. Military, the Mongolian Federal Police and Prosecutors Offices, along with providing technical support I:Ifor their Human Trafficking Operations and Investigations.

Rebekah Charleston’s story is one that is unfortunately too common. At the age of 17, after running away from home, she found herself trapped in the world of human trafficking, as a victim. After ten years and no way to escape from multiple traffickers on her own, it was the federal authorities that ultimately provided her a path to freedom and safety. Given a new lease on life, she hasn’t shied away from her experiences, instead she has used it as a source of inspiration and a way to educate others on the prevalent world of human trafficking in America. Through her work as the Strategic Development Director of The Jensen Project, Founder of Bekah Speaks Out, Strategic Advisor to Valiant Hearts and a consultant with the National Criminal Justice Training Center, Rebekah has dedicated her life to preventing others from having to experience what she did. In the years that have passed, Rebekah has won numerous awards for her work, including 2016’s Survivor Leader Award, has been featured by numerous media outlets such as Deadline Crimes, TEDx and Daystar, received a master’s degree in criminal justice and has given birth to her loving son. Rebekah Charleston has a story to tell — a story of desperation, a story of hope, a story of triumph and a story of survival.

Jessica Grisler is a member of the IACP Programs Team where she currently works on the Enhancing Law Enforcement Human Trafficking Task Force Operations Program to support the needs of ECM task forces through training and curriculum development. Previously, Jessica worked on IACP’s Leadership Services and Training Team where she provided logistical and programmatic organization to the leadership trainings for police executives. Before becoming a team member with the IACP, Jessica was a Communications Specialist at the Arlington County (VA) Police Department, where she assisted the Public Information Officer with inquiries from the media and public, coordinated community outreach events and safety campaigns, and worked closely with other county agencies. Jessica started her career as a Media Relations/Public Affairs intern with the Arlington County Police Department. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at George Mason University.