Sarasota tattoo shop helps victims cover tattoos branded on by human traffickers

SARASOTA, Fla. - An organization that assists human trafficking victims is partnering with a tattoo shop in Sarasota to help survivors cover up a physical reminder of their trauma: Tattoos branded onto them by their traffickers.

The tattoos can be anything, including bar codes, pictures, symbols, even the name of the trafficker. For survivors like Holly Harris, her own body became a painful reminder of the trauma she experienced.

"It was just a constant reminder of everything that I'd been through," Harris said.

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When Harris was just 15 years old in 2013, she didn't have a sense of belonging in her small hometown of Portage, WI. So she left home and met a group of so-called "friends."

"And through them, I met who then became my trafficker," Harris told FOX 13. "He came to me like, 'Hey, I have a way that you can make a lot of money.' And like, I was already, you know, having sex with people. So he's like, 'You're going to do the same thing that you're doing. Just make money doing it."

Despite that monetized manipulation, Harris thought she was in love with her trafficker, so she branded herself with tattoos for him on her arms and her chest.

She also added some gang tattoos.

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"I was like, ‘I want to show my love and like my loyalty to you by doing this,'" she said.

In 2015, her decisions caught up with her, landing Holly in prison for six years.

After serving her time and convinced she'd eventually die if she went back to her old life, Harris instead turned to Selah Freedom, a non-profit in Sarasota that focuses on human trafficking assistance and prevention.

Selah gave Holly a safe place to break her chains.

"It was a long journey of finding myself," she said.

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But even as she confronted her pain, her own body became a constant reminder of the trauma. In each branding, she saw years of exploitation, dependence and loss of control.

First, she had the branding on her chest covered with a new tattoo, then came the ones on her wrists. When it was time to cover the gang ink on her back, Selah Freedom connected Harris with Charity Pinegar, the owner of Diamond Reigns Beauty and Tattoos in Sarasota.

"If we're giving them their body back, we want to do it the right way," Pinegar said.

Pinegar has helped several other survivors in similar positions as Holly. Some of the stories bring her to tears.

"I had this one leave me this card, and she was just like. You've made such a tremendous impact in my life. And I was just like, I don't know how to process that. I don't feel like I did anything," she said.

Nicole Dolack, Selah's Outreach Coordinator, said unfortunately Harris is one of many. Some human trafficking victims are forced to get branded.

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"It's sometimes something very subtle," Dolack said. "They will have branding that matches the other women that are trafficked by the same person. Sometimes they have unique tattoos and it's also a manipulation strategy."

That's why what these tattoo artists are doing can mean everything to the survivors they're helping.

"It was like an instant I feel free," Harris said. "I can finally move on with my life."

According to Selah Freedom, Florida reports the third most human trafficking cases in the country. California and Texas lead the U.S. in reported cases.

If you see suspected signs of sex trafficking, you're urged to call authorities or organizations like Selah Freedom.