Shadowing Fr. Martino: A Review of His Investigation into a Sex Trafficking Claim

Last week, Father Martino--a.k.a. "Cha Thong" as he is called in Vietnamese--invited us to join him on an impromptu investigation mission. We travelled for six hours to another province to meet with someone who contacted him via social media with a tip about young girls being trafficked to China.

Our role was to shadow him and learn what he does. We were to provide assistance when needed.

Father Martino met the informant, a 12-year old girl, who explained that she was accosted by three young males a few months ago. One of them said that "if she behaved [for them], then she wouldn't be sent to China like the other girls."

A 3rd-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, the young girl said that she was able to free herself from her assailants by fighting back and running away. Not knowing whether the three men's threat was credible or merely a scare tactic, she contacted Father Martino a few weeks after the incident hoping that he could figure out what's really happening.

She doesn't know who attacked her, nor does she know how to find them. Father Martino said that this would be for the better. He doesn't want her putting herself in danger.

Not much else could be done at this point. Father Martino pledged to assist, but he also told her that she would need to be his eyes and ears in her town if he is to investigate further. Whenever safe, she will report to Father Martino with any further information regarding trafficking activity.

Podcast interviews with Father Martino regarding this mission and his experiences with similar investigations can be heard and downloaded below.

Interview #1: En route to the meeting with the informant.

Interview #2: Post-meeting debrief to discuss what was discussed and learned.



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Below is a brief photo summary of the journey.

Father Martino picked us up at the OBV office. We would drive in a car that his friend often lends him for trips like this.

Since we had a six hour trip ahead of us, I used part of the time to interview Father Martino about what we're about to do, and about previous experiences doing similar investigations.

There was a lot of driving. This is what we saw most of the time.

Our trip involved taking a ferry ride.

While waiting for the ferry, young kids knocked on the car windows to sell us lottery tickets. It's a common way for those in poverty to make quick money. Father Martino can rarely refuse kids when they ask, so he bought the entire packet of lottery tickets.

We make it into town by nightfall.

Father Martino has me and Thuy scope out a location for him and the informant to meet in relative privacy. We found a cafe near our hotel, and we were to sit next to him and observe. We were also to pretend that we didn't know him, and that we were some random tourists hanging out in the city.

Father Martino had to pick up from school the person who gave him tip. Turns out that it was a 12-year old girl. They would speak for about 20 minutes. She spent the first half of the conversation confirming he was who he claimed to be online.

After she shared her story with him, he sent her home in a taxi. I would debrief Father Martino over dinner. Hear the full conversation here.

We were up at 5:00 AM the next morning to get a jump start on the drive home. We stopped by an outdoor market for breakfast.

We would have another six-hour drive ahead of us.

We all took naps along the way.

And, Father Martino--being Father Martino--never missed an opportunity to joke around.