MUKILTEO — Dusty Olson can’t offer a headline-grabbing number to describe the magnitude of the problem, but she knows it lingers in our midst.

She knows this because she talks with detectives and social workers and the very people who are its unwitting victims: teenage girls trapped in a lif

e of prostitution.

“It is absolutely going on,” Olson said. “To what extent is largely anecdotal.”

The victim advocate for the Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse comes into frequent contact with exploited teen girls who are involved in sex trafficking around Puget Sound and beyond.

Some she encounters are homegrown. Others were brought to Snohomish County as part of a regional circuit, staying a month or so before moving on with their pimps.

In the computer age, they aren’t likely to be walking the streets. Meetings with customers typically happen in area hotels, and are arranged online.

The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County wants to bring attention to the issue. It has scheduled for Olson to discuss the topic along with a county deputy prosecutor and an Everett detective.

The presentation is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in the Vancouver Room of Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave., in Mukilteo. The league is calling the event: “Our Kids Are Not for Sale!” The discussion is open to anyone.

Dorothy Jones, a member of the county chapter, said the issue needs attention.

“The lack of awareness is so astounding,” she said.

Olson is glad to have a forum.

“We need community awareness,” she said. “These kids aren’t speaking up. These kids aren’t coming in and saying, ‘Help me.’ “

That resistance to say anything is a part of the challenge experts have in determining how big the problem is, Olson said. Also, many social workers were not trained how to ask the right questions to identify who is involved in the sex trafficking industry.

Local police and federal law enforcement officers have been working together. In recent years, the FBI has orchestrated nationwide child prostitution crackdowns and in those sweeps, it has tracked down girls in Seattle and Everett.

Sex trafficking cases against pimps now often end up in federal court because of stiffer sentences.

That might be changing, however.

Lisa Paul, head of the special assault unit for the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said the Legislature has toughened punishments for crimes involving sex with minors.

In, 2007, new state laws went into effect, prohibiting commercial sexual abuse of a minor and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

The standard punishment for someone with no criminal history paying for sex with a minor used to be up to three months in jail. As of June 10, 2010, the offense now means roughly two years in prison.

The standard sentence for promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor is now up to 10 years in prison.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.

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The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County wants to bring attention to the issue of child sex trafficking.

It has scheduled three local experts to discuss the topic at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Vancouver Room of Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave., in Mukilteo.

The discussion is open to anyone. Co-sponsors are the Edmonds chapter of the American Association of University Women and The Herald.