Woman Used By Satanic Cult Motivates Former Wyoming Cop To End Human Trafficking

A woman sex-trafficked by a Satanic cult still haunts—and motivates—former Converse County Undersheriff Justin Scott. Forced to medically retire from law enforcement after a devastating crash, he has found a new mission: rescuing human trafficking victims in Wyoming.

The woman turned up at a Laramie truck stop with nothing but the clothes on her back. After hitching rides along Interstate 80, she had randomly landed in Wyoming with a hollowed-out look in her eyes. Scott later learned she had been sex-trafficked by members of a satanic cult that, beyond selling her, had subjected her to the full range of their rituals. She attempted to escape multiple times but was always brought back. Finally, she found freedom in Wyoming. It took Scott nearly a month to place her in a facility out of state equipped to address her complicated issues.

This was one of the first trafficking survivors Scott and his group helped when they began their anti-human trafficking efforts nearly five years ago under the Albany Advisory Council on Trafficking. The group has since reorganized under Frontline Response, an Atlanta-based group focused on providing services to homeless and trafficked people, with Scott heading Frontline Response West. He said the woman remains a steady source of inspiration. “Just the amount of struggle and torment that survivors go through gives me strength to do more and serve them the best way we can,” he said.

Scott did not see his life playing out this way. In 2016, his patrol car slid on ice during a high-speed chase and smashed the eluding driver head-on. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and broke his hip and back in three places, ending his law enforcement career at age 36. During nearly a decade of recovery, he moved to Laramie, earned a degree, and then his pastor asked him to pick up anti-human trafficking efforts inspired by a local human rights attorney. Scott launched the Albany Advisory Council on Trafficking in January 2021, though he knew nothing about human trafficking. “As a law-and-order guy, I was used to going after bad guys, but had little training in tending to victims,” he said. Shifting that paradigm took work.

He allied with Terri Markham of Uprising in Sheridan, one of few others doing this work in Wyoming. He soon realized no one was providing trafficking survivors with direct services and aftercare. Frontline Response West now offers temporary housing while addressing immediate needs including food, clothing, counseling, and medical care while finding more permanent placement out of state. The nonprofit has about 15 active volunteers ranging from counselors to retired ER nurses and law enforcement officers. Scott estimates he and his group have served about 30 survivors, all adult women, many from other states.

It is almost impossible to get a read on the prevalence of human trafficking in Wyoming. The National Human Trafficking Hotline’s 2024 report counted 29 contacts from Wyoming, identifying 17 cases involving 24 victims. Despite having human trafficking laws since 2013, Cara Chambers of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office cannot recall any statewide trafficking convictions; many cases are prosecuted under child abuse statutes.

Scott is raising money to build the first human trafficking safe house in Wyoming. “Human trafficking hides very well in a large state with a low population,” he said. “You have lots of pockets to blend in and keep things behind closed doors in rural settings.” He is also raising money to go to the Republic of Congo in July as part of a “Cowboy in the Congo” initiative to support child soldiers who have been sexually exploited. Five years ago, he could not fathom seeing himself at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking. Now, this former Wyoming cop is all in. “I just want to keep doing more,” he said.