Magdalene's Inc. combating sex trafficking by giving victims a place to call home

A Gulf Breeze building that only two years ago was used as an illicit massage parlor has been remodeled and repurposed as the headquarters for the greater-Pensacola area's newest nonprofit formed to combat human sex trafficking.

And now that nonprofit, Magdalene's Inc., is just days away from closing on a second building in Santa Rosa County, this one a house where survivors and recent escapees of sex trafficking will have a safe haven, a fresh start and a network of supporters.

"For these women, obviously, it's very traumatic," said Josie Cotti, development chair for Magdalene's Inc. "So they come out of sex trafficking, oftentimes with addictions and emotional and mental health issues and physical issues, some legal issues and things like that. So we are locking arms with short-term resources."

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Magdalene's Inc. Search Assets was founded last year with the express purpose to provide housing and help survivors of trafficking, prostitution, abuse and addiction.

The exact location of the new home is not being disclosed for safety purposes, but it will be called Magdalene's House.

The three occupants, who will be referred to Magdalene's House by nationally recognized human trafficking awareness and aid organizations, will reside in the home and undergo a two-year, rent-free program to get their lives back on track while receiving trauma-informed care.

"Medical, dental, vision, they'll have all their medicine and everything given to them," Cotti explained.

The new location will be a world apart from the conditions sex trafficking victims lived in at the former massage parlor.

Magdalene's Inc. is located at 3268 Fordham Parkway in Gulf Breeze, the former home of All Day Walk-In Massage that closed after its operator was arrested in 2019 on federal charges connected to human trafficking.

Its operator, David C. Williams, was taken into custody on charges related to human trafficking and operating multiple illegal massage parlors in Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania. He later to pleaded guilty in federal court to using interstate facilities for purposes of racketeering, transporting women for prostitution, harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain and being involved in a money laundering conspiracy.

Deb Atchison, vice president with Magdalene's Inc., said she drove by the business almost daily before it closed.

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When she later learned about the charges facing parlor's operator, Atchison said, "It broke my heart. It seriously broke my heart because it was all going on in my backyard. Like, seriously, pretty much in my backyard."

Cotti said, "That's what started the passion to make a difference."

When Magdalene's Inc. bought the property, nonprofit leaders found the building in near dilapidation.

Atchison said that its interior — where multiple sex-trafficked women lived and were forced into labor, at any one time — was in shambles. Peeling paint, mold and mildew covered the walls, and in part of the ceiling rats had chewed a hole and built an open-air nest.

"So, these women, if you're sex trafficked, you are totally 100%, every millisecond of your life is controlled," Cotti said. "So these women lived here, they lived here. They were housed in here.

"Their identity was taken from them," she continued. "They had no control of their lives."

Under the new ownership, the space has been completely transformed.

The building now houses the nonprofit's offices and the organization's Gifts and Gatherings store that sells art, self-care and artisan products for fundraising purposes.

The paint is fresh, and the rooms are well lit. When potential costumers walk in the door for the first time, they're greeted by friendly volunteers who are fond of exchanging pleasantries.

Now the funds raised at the store will help support trafficking victims, and the new home will help give them a stable staring place to rebuild their lives.

"We know that we will never end it everywhere," Atchison said of battling human trafficking. "But we want to do what we can in our time, in our own backyard."

Anyone who wishes to lend support to Magdalene's Inc. can go to the nonprofit's donation page — magdalenes.kindful.com — or visit its shop at 3268 Fordham Parkway in Gulf Breeze.

Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Magdalene's nonprofit buying home for trafficking victims