IDAHO, USA — Joe Aguayo is a truck driver for WinCo Foods. He has been with the company headquarters in Boise for three years now.
"It's the best job I've ever had," Aguayo said. "We deliver freight, sometimes we unload it, sometimes it's just a drop and hook. The people, the pay and the benefits are great."
Last year, he was driving his route in North Idaho when he noticed a woman wandering on the side of the road. Her head was shaved, and she was naked. She was wrapped in a towel.
"I came around the corner, and she was standing on the fog line, and everything about me was like something's wrong," Aguayo said. "The voice in your head was like, hey you need to get help."
The thing is, Aguayo didn't have cell service. He knew he had to get help right away, and he couldn't turn around because he had already passed her at a high rate of speed on the highway.
"So, I floored it to the nearest call box, and got the Idaho State Police out there as soon as they could," he said.
Idaho State Police (ISP) responded right away to help the woman. Aguayo said he was so relieved to hear it.
"At that time, I didn't even know she was a trafficking victim," Aguayo said. "They told me that she had a bunch of wounds and stuff and she was completely nude. She was drugged up and they shaved her head. Every time I've had to talk about it, I get choked up because I can't imagine what it would be like to go through what she went through, and the horror that she endured. That people would treat people like that. Last I heard she was safe and they got her counseling."
In the months before Joe helped rescue the 27-year-old woman, he had some specialized WinCo training that prepared him for this very experience.
"Every year we have this meeting with a bunch of drivers, and we were introduced to Truckers Against Trafficking," Aguayo said.
Truckers Against Trafficking, also known as TAT, is a nonprofit that works to train drivers like Aguayo to recognize and report human trafficking. Ben Espey of WinCo told KTVB it was a company decision to get involved in fighting this heinous crime in the northwest.
"We decided to show the video that TAT provided to us that explain what to do if you see somebody in trouble, we decided to go ahead and jump right into it," said Ben Espey, of WinCo. "You know, we are out there on the road all the time. The more eyes and ears we have out there the better. We have a lot of drivers here at WinCo, and we are hitting truck stops and gas stations and rest areas. We are all over the northwest here. By training our drivers to be on the lookout, it goes a long ways."
Aguayo recognized the signs that day, and for his heroic actions, his bosses at WinCo nominated him for a special award.
"Truckers Against Trafficking honors drivers like Aguayo with the Harriet Tubman Award, so we submitted his name to TAT to become a nominee," Espey said.
Aguayo won, and said he was so honored.
"We ended up flying to Indianapolis for the award ceremony," Aguayo said. "The Harriet Tubman Award is for saving people's lives and being able to rescue them, just like she did. It was really incredible to be there."
"We were really proud of him, he deserved to win the award," Espey said.
Now, when Aguayo is on the road on his route through Idaho, he's extra alert.
"I drive the same route still, and the thing that gets me is how many people have we not found?" he said.
Aguayo said that is the thought that sticks with him.
"I was told by the officer that this was the second victim that was found in this area," Aguayo said. "So, when I'm on that route I'm always on constant alert of what is around me."
Aguayo is now on the WinCo Safety Committee, helping to share his experience with Truckers Against Trafficking, and training new employees to keep their eyes open for anything suspicious.
"You know we are eyes on the road, we see everything. It was like the grace of God was telling me to go get help," Aguayo said. "Pay attention to your gut feeling, and if you see something say something."
For more information on Truckers Against Trafficking, and the difference they are making in the fight against human trafficking, click here.
The Harriet Tubman Award presented by Protective Insurance, which carries with it a $2500 check, is named in honor of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman, whose courageous personal actions resulted in the transportation of 300 slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad and whose overall role in the freedom movement was instrumental in the freeing of thousands more. Born into slavery in 1820, Miss Tubman was the first African American woman buried with full military honors and the first to have the inaugural Liberty ship named after her – the SS Harriet Tubman – by the US Maritime Commission. The award was created to honor a member of the transportation industry each year, whose direct actions help save or improve the lives of those exploited or prevent human trafficking from taking place.
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