Lorelei Confer

  Good morning! This is my first time on the CTR blog so I’d better introduce myself. I’m Lorelei Confer and I write Romantic Suspense. I started writing in the fourth grade when my teacher chose a play I’d written to be produced for all students and parents alike. I’ve been writing ever since. I live on the west coast of Florida with my husband, two cats and my Chihuahua, AJ.

Currently, I’m working on a series called ‘Deadly’ about human trafficking. Following are the first two books in the series and can be purchased at www.bookstrand.com/deadly-deceptionor www.bookstrand.com/deadly-revenge.

In doing my research for Deadly Deception I learned so much about human trafficking I really wanted to get a message out there for every woman and thought the romance genre would be the way to go. I met with an undercover detective assigned to our local task force for human trafficking and from all the information I gleaned from that and numerous other interviews I was able to put together realistic stories.

My current WIP (Deadly Deliverance) is also about human trafficking but from an investigators point of view. I hope to have it finished in the next couple months and ready for release early next year.

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy researching and writing them!!

 Isabella Donnelly, is drugged, abducted, and taken from her so-called friend’s house in Colorado and transported across state lines all the way to Virginia. Finally escaping after several attempts, she ironically runs unto the arms of skeptical detective, Wyatt Bowman. The staggeringly handsome, with nothing-gets-past-him sharp blue eyes, is hard to convince that the horrific story she’s telling is true.

Their attraction is hot, sizzling, and irresistible. While they get caught up in each other, will Wyatt be able to let her go through with a sting operation against the group that is human trafficking women from all over the country? Will he trust her to handle the danger, and then when she finds out his secret, will he be able to gain her trust in return?

  Tory Richards returns to North Carolina to help her mother set up a B & B never expecting to stumble across several murder victims, fall in love, or get abducted by human traffickers.

Fortunately, when she’s run off the road on the way into town, Dave Miller, working undercover on the task force for human trafficking, comes to her aid. She blows off the near fatal accident as just that—an accident, but rethinks her position once events escalate.

Someone is trying to kill Tory. Failing that, she’s being set up as a suspect in four murders. As Dave falls more deeply for Tory, how will he tell her who he is and what he does? Will she ever trust him? Trust becomes a moot point when Tory is abducted and everything points to the group of human traffickers Dave’s had under surveillance. He calls in the entire task force, but will they reach Tory before she’s used as a sex slave?

Human Traffickingis the exploitation by force, fraud or coercion of vulnerable people for forced labor, domestic servitude or commercial sex operations. It is one of the most lucrative and growing businesses in the world today. Have you ever wondered how YOU could help stop human trafficking in your area?

Clues that may help you identify a possible trafficking victim:

1) Accompanied by a controlling person or boss: not speaking on own behalf
2.) Lack of control over personal schedule, money, I.D., travel documents
3) Transported to and from work; lives and works in the same place
4) Debt owed to employer/crew leader; inability to leave job
5) Bruises, depression, fear, overly submissive

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK:

• What type of work do you do?
• Are you being paid?
• Can you leave your job if you want to?
• Can you come and go as you please?
• Have you or your family been threatened?
• What are your working and living conditions like?
• Where do you sleep and eat?
• Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom?
• Are there locks on your doors/windows so you can't get out?
• Has your identification been taken from you?

DID YOU KNOW: In June 2003, the FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative. Their combined efforts were aimed at addressing the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States. In the five years since its inception, the initiative has resulted in the development of 24 dedicated task forces and working groups throughout the U.S. involving federal, state and local law agencies working in tandem with U.S. Attorney's Offices.

Statistics (as of June 2008)
Children Recovered: 433
Seizures: Over $3 million
Convictions: 308
Task Forces and Working Groups: 24

Investigations have successfully led to the conviction of more than 300 pimps, madams, and their associates who exploit children and women through prostitution. These convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences including multiple 25-year-to-life sentences and the seizure of real property, vehicles, and monetary assets.

•Susie, 39 years old, was in high spirits at the airport in Mombasa. She boarded a plane on her way to Germany to spend a three-month holiday, courtesy of her 'boyfriend' who had lavished gifts upon her for months. All hopes of an exciting, wonderful stay in a foreign land were shattered on arrival in Germany, when her boyfriend/trafficker confiscated her passport and denied her food for several days before informing her that she would work as a sex slave. She was raped repeatedly, beaten, and threatened with death. After enduring gross exploitation, Susie used a cell phone to call police who instigated a raid and was able to rescue her from her abductors.

I’ll be here all day so please leave me a comment and ask me any questions you may have. I’d love to interact with you. Thanks for stopping by and hope to talk to you soon.