BEVERLY HILLS, Mich. – Theresa Flores is a survivor in every sense of the word.
"People are definitely shocked when they hear (my story)," Flores said.
She went to Groves High School in Beverly Hills. During her freshman year she was sold for sex in an underground crime ring in Birmingham.
"A boy targeted me that was a part of a much larger network, organized network, and groomed me for about six months, made me fall in love with him," Flores said. "I got drugged and raped and blackmailed with pictures for two years while they sold me to men in their organization."
She said nobody, not even her parents, knew she was being trafficked for sex.
"People are shocked that this happens to a, you know, to a white kid, I guess, middle class, nice neighborhood, suburbs," Flores said. "People don't think that this happens."
Human trafficking is the second-leading crime in the world. Flores is speaking out across the country, sharing her story at events, such as one recently at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
She wants parents and children to be able to recognize the signs of human trafficking and understand how traffickers trap young boys and girls.
"We know that hundreds of thousands of kids are being trafficked in the United States," Flores said. "This is happening in every single ZIP code. Nobody's exempt from this. Every kid is vulnerable of being trafficked. They need to know that just because I live in an expensive area, maybe my kids go to the best school, that they're also vulnerable of this happening, too."
After two years of being sold for sex, Flores escaped because her family left Michigan and moved to Ohio.
"For me it was just the grace of God," Flores said. "My dad ended up getting transferred, so I was able to really escape. But most -- I know thousands of survivors -- and most don't get to escape like I did, so I was really lucky."
Now she tells teenagers that if something happens, there's always a way out. She said children need to find somebody they can trust and talk to that person.
"We always tell dads to tell her daughters that they're beautiful every day," Flores said. "If you don't do it, somebody else will, and those are the kinds of guys that reach out to these girls that have lower self-esteem and they're telling her everything that she's yearning to hear."
Flores started her own outreach group called SOAP, which stands for Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution. Click here to visit the website.