Flight attendant ‘saved girl from human trafficking by leaving note in plane toilet’

A flight attendant has told how she rescued a teenage girl from human trafficking after she left a note in the plane’s toilet.

Shelia Frederick said she was working on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco when she noticed the “dishevelled” girl travelling with a “well-dressed” man.

Ms Frederick became suspicious when the girl wouldn’t look at her or respond to questions, and the man she was flying with answered everything.

The 49-year-old told 10 News: “Something in the back of my mind said something is not right.

“He was well dressed, that’s what kind of got me because why is he well dressed and she is looking dishevelled and out of sorts?”

Concerned for the girl’s welfare, Ms Frederick left a note for her on the mirror of the plane’s toilet.

In response, the girl apparently wrote: “I need help.”

Ms Frederick then told the pilot who alerted police in San Francisco.

The man was arrested when the flight landed.

Ms Frederick said: “I’ve been a flight attendant for ten years and it’s like I am going all the way back to when I was in training and I was like I could have seen these young girls and young boys and didn’t even know.”

Since rescuing the teen in 2011, Ms Frederick said she has stayed in touch, and added the girl is now attending college.

 

 

Evening Standard