Investigating Labor Trafficking in the U.S.

Jane Anderson brings her expertise in prosecuting domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking to her role as an Attorney Advisor with AEquitas. Prior to joining AEquitas, Jane served as a prosecutor in Miami, Florida where she tried many of the state's first human trafficking cases. In her role as a founding member of the Human Trafficking Unit, Jane developed policies to better identify and provide necessary services to trafficking victims, while ensuring offender accountability through the use of digital evidence and creative charging decisions. Jane also served as a supervisor in the Domestic Violence Unit, where she trained new attorneys and oversaw the prosecution of domestic violence, stalking, and violations of protection orders. Throughout her career, Jane prosecuted felony-level crimes of all types, including homicide, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Currently, Jane’s responsibilities include serving as a member of the IACP technical assistance team and as ICF’s “field coach” for human trafficking prosecutors around the U.S. Jane graduated cum laude from American University, Washington College of Law and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Detective Theresa Nietzel is assigned to the Narcotics & Intelligence Division within the Human Trafficking Unit for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and also serves as the Program Director for the Western District of New York’s Human Trafficking Task Force & Alliance. Theresa has been working in law enforcement for 16 years, serving as a lead investigator of Human Trafficking investigations. Theresa Nietzel began her police officer career with the Town of Newburgh Police Department before becoming a Deputy Sheriff with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office in 2010.  

In 2019, Theresa was awarded the HSI Executive Director Award for Outstanding Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking as a Task Force Officer. In 2017, Theresa was awarded the Women in Federal Law Enforcement Partnership Award for her Outstanding Contribution as a State or Local Officer while serving as a Task Force Officer with Homeland Security Investigations on human trafficking investigations. After earning her Master’s Degree in Public Administration, she joined Medaille College as an adjunct professor. Theresa has also served in the United States Army Reserves as a Military Police Officer for 13 years.  

Sergeant Nick Odenath has been with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office for the past 19 years, including six years as a detective investigating human trafficking. Nick has also served in several other capacities with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, including custody and patrol services, court services, narcotics investigations, asset forfeiture, financial investigations, and 6 years as a SWAT operator. Nick has become recognized for his lead on two large-scale human trafficking investigations that resulted in successful human trafficking prosecutions and used organized criminal investigative techniques that were victim-centric and specifically focused on mitigating a victim’s need to testify against their traffickers. He has performed case debriefs and trainings on the topic of human trafficking throughout the United States. Nick has also spoken on several panels addressing victim services and investigative techniques related to human trafficking cases.  

In March 2020, Nick was promoted to Sergeant and currently works as a Watch Commander at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility. Nick continues to provide human trafficking training and case consults for various local, state and federal agencies; serves on the Ventura County Human Trafficking Tack Force committee for outreach and training; and works with community providers focused on combatting human trafficking within Ventura County. Nick also serves as the President for the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.  

Jessie Plamp is a member of the IACP Programs Team where she currently works as the Project Coordinator on the Enhancing Law Enforcement Human Trafficking Task Force Operations Program to support the needs of ECM task forces through training and curriculum development. She previously worked as the Project Assistant on the BJA Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Human Trafficking Task Force Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program to support the needs of the local ECM task forces.  

Before joining the IACP Jessie worked as an Assistant Supervisor at Eye2Eye Optometry Office, overseeing staff and responding to the medical needs of patients. Jessie earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Michigan State University and Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology from George Washington University. During her Master’s Program she was an intern at The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), where she developed curriculum modules, using Power Point and Google Slides, on the profile of cybercriminals.