Harriet Tubman Award winner, Joe Aguayo, shares his story of combatting human trafficking

Joe Aguayo, a professional truck driver who has been driving for WinCo Foods for the past three years, was named the winner of the 2023 Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) Harriet Tubman Award. The award, named to honor abolitionist Harriet Tubman, is given to members of the trucking industry whose direct actions have positively impacted those victimized by human trafficking.

Joe spoke with TMAF as part of its efforts to commemorate Human Trafficking Awareness Month. He told us about a time when he was able to assist a victim of trafficking and how it forever changed the way he does his job.

In September 2022, Aguayo was driving in the northwest at night, and as he drove around a corner, he saw a woman standing near the fog line of the road staring at the mountains. She had a shaved head and was wearing nothing but a beach towel. This caught his attention as there were no other cars or people around, leaving him with an uneasy feeling something was wrong. He immediately knew he needed to get help, as there was no cell phone service in that area, so he drove up the road and called the authorities who assured him they would handle the situation appropriately.

“I told them somebody needs help. I trusted my gut feeling and went and got the cops to help her.”

Several months later, Aguayo was driving the same route when he had a weather-related accident. When the state trooper arrived, Aguayo asked about the woman, and to his surprise, this trooper had also assisted her. The trooper shared that the 27-year-old woman was recuperating from being a victim of human trafficking and had displayed behavior consistent with having been drugged that night. The trooper credited Aguayo with likely saving the woman’s life, emphasizing that if he had waited until his cellphone had service again, the outcome might have been different.

Aguayo gives credit back to the training he received from TAT, explaining he was able to learn the signs to look for on the road. He highlighted being taught to recognize the “Signal for Help,” involving the gesture of facing your palm outward, folding your thumb across your palm, and closing your fingers over your thumb. Additionally, he has become more vigilant at rest stops, actively looking for signs of possessive or aggressive behavior.

“When I take that route, I am constantly on alert and even catch myself slowing down on turnouts just to make sure nobody’s there. I don’t want to find out that somebody was found in the area or that we missed somebody that we could have saved. For me, it’s a constant reminder that this stuff is at our back door.”

He urges all drivers to remain vigilant on the road, emphasizing the importance of being aware of their surroundings while driving. Aguayo pointed out that since truck drivers frequently traverse the same routes each day, they are uniquely positioned to recognize when something is out of the ordinary.

“If you see something, say something and always trust your gut feeling because you never know what is happening and you could be saving somebody’s life.”