Blog Post

My Child Trafficking Ring Witness Account

October 30, 2023 Woodbine Elementary by Elizabeth Norton Gray

(Names have been redacted but can be given and have been given to law enforcement officials)

Before I begin, I got asked this week if there is an undercover investigation going on then how am “I” allowed to talk about when no one else can or confirm my story. In order to understand this, you will need to understand that….

1. At the time, and likely still, there is no other person with as big of an online voice as myself.

2. Although unconventional, my role was to use “new media/social media” and act as an undercover journalist. Despite the fact that I am hesitant to call myself “a writer” I answered the calling to do what the local news organizations serving our area would not.

3. When I developed an influential online voice, in the early days of social media, when this plan was conceptualized I decided that much of my online efforts would be used for good. Whether that be Hurricane Sandy Relief, Working with various food banks across the United States, Foster Care advocacy or exposing a child trafficking ring that was being run 2 miles from my house.

In 2009, at the age of 27, I toured WES (Woodbine Elementary School) with my now 21 year old for kindergarten. At that time, ********* (who was a previous teacher of mine at Middle Township HS) showed me a child trafficking ring that was operating out of the Janitor’s office. As a foster mom and birth mom of two I took what I saw very seriously. I eventually raised concern on Twitter (during the years of it’s start) and reported it to the FBI. Later the FBI reached out to me with an investigator from the local prosecutor’s office in an attempt to shut down the ring. I had two meetings with the FBI/Prosecutor’s Office Investigator to discuss the ring in Woodbine. One was held in California in 2014 and another in NYC in 2015.

I saw the ring operate in 2015 in a neighbors yard and then again in 2019 while I served on the WES board in 2019-2020.

I lack proof in pictures because I was fearful to take them and blow the cover of the dumb clueless blonde who was a do gooder that was oblivious to the ring. However, I know pictures were taken by a friend that was also in the neighbor’s yard with me and another member on the board of education in 2019-2020 with me and still seated.

From the meetings I have had on the WES Board and with the FBI this is what I know. Children are coming in illegally from the Woodbine Airport, being funneled into the janitor’s office, and being sold at parent pick up. This was the case in 2019-2020.

I have had my phone tapped in 2014 and then again multiple times later. My cell phone sat in front of me tapped during the one year term I sat on the board.

During my term, 2 weeks before I left, **** ******* showed me the ring and asked me if I had “met the Janitor’s children”. This is the same thing ************* had said to me and became an often heard phrase during board meetings. (To be clear the children I saw were not of American descent) My last Woodbine BOE meeting had stenographers in attendance(only board members and no audience was in attendance that day) making it apparent that there was an investigation happening. After this realization the school ******, ********, retired on the spot.

When my term was up, I then used my blog and social media to expose the ring prompting the State Police(who are involved) to make numerous visits to my house. I would make a Facebook or Blog post and they would show up at my house to harass me time and time again.

Around this time, I also received a letter from the WBOE, just a few days after I went public, to try to scare me into being quiet. I refused.

The police called me in for an interview, and a couple weeks later sent me to the Hampton House. The Hampton House is a state facility for the mentally unstable in New Jersey.

(Knowing that this was likely the lengths the State Police would go to keep this story contained I was warned by the FBI/Prosecutor’s Office that I may be sent to The Hampton House at our 2015 meeting. At that time I agreed to go if needed in order to continue with the investigation and operation to save the kids I saw being sold at Woodbine Elementary School.)

In 2021, I was committed for 2 weeks. The state police and the Hampton House tried to say I was on heavy duty drugs. Drugs I have never touched in my life. My room at the Hampton House had no heat. The food was horrible and sparse. There was one water source for over 23 people during a global pandemic, a water fountain. There, I was threatened again to remove my blog entries made here, asked to delete my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts. Again, I refused. I was released 14 days later.

Numerous law enforcement (still till this day) labeled/label me as a schizophrenic in defense of their own actions and to deflect from the ring that I saw in operation. I have had no diagnosis of being schizophrenic.

Just a few weeks after the Hampton House stay, the state and locally involved police influenced CPS and I lost custody of my children. It took months to get my three children “back” as I jumped through the hoops required of me. I had done nothing to deserve this. I was exercising my right of freedom of speech. Still, custody of my kids was stripped away from me.

(Thankfully, my husband, who I was and still am married to, remained in custody so my children never left my home.)

Personally, this was heartbreaking as I had worked with CPS for many years hosting foster children in my home. (I have had 23 children leave my home but never my heart. I still love them till this day. Many stories from my foster days still reside on this blog). During this time, nothing but frustration and disappointment filled me as it all revealed how absolutely broken our foster system is. Having seen the system from both sides, a parent and as a foster parent, I am more motivated than ever for foster reform in the United States of America.

Again, during this process of my kids being used as collateral and my custody taken, I was threatened to take down my posts on Fb, my blog, and social media which exposed the ring and how it operated. Again, I refused.

At my meeting in 2015 with the FBI/Prosecutor’s Investigator, I was told that I would likely be labeled crazy but proceeded with the course of action to save the kids despite how it would/has tarnished my reputation.

However, I had no clue how much this would hurt my family and how CPS would get involved. I am and was standing up for what is right. These are human lives at stake and Woodbine has a gigantic problem. Child trafficking has no place in Woodbine and ESPECIALLY in a learning institution in the United States of America.

Proverbs 31:8
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Unfortunately, their is a tie to what I saw happening in Woodbine with two open cases involving citizens from the Cape May County area dating back as far as 1991. Although I strongly feel this is related, I have chosen to not talk about it here. One of the two families it involves, I have not made personal contact with to explain my findings, experiences, and knowledge with their individual situation. Because of this, and because both cases involve each other, I do not feel comfortable with explaining it here. However, in both cases,calls have been made to the tiplines provided by the crime units.

An Update:

I have no update really! I was told that two things about this investigation.

1. “It could take a Long, Long, Long time.” I don’t know how long “long” actually is.

It’s been almost 14 years since my initial reporting. Its been 10 years since the investigation started. It’s very emotional. Waiting is hard. Though I have 3 kids, my heart yearns for the others and to KNOW they are safe. I was told they would be safe in witness protection but it would be great for me to know they are loved and cared for. I pray for Zulia(read the story about when I met her) and the others every single day.
It’s not just me waiting, It’s all of the people that love me and support me and believe in my effort to stop this.

But most importantly, It’s my kids that are waiting too. Waiting for the truth to come out about their mom. Waiting to see the truth for themselves. Waiting for Justice to be brought.

2. A ring never has been attempted to be closed like this before.

In 2009, social media was new. While I had talked about the ring on Twitter back then the corrupt police officers/School administration weren’t early adopters to the tech platform. Though very important people were present for the conversation that night in 2009, the exposure was missed locally. Keeping quiet for all those years after was hard for me. Supposedly, when the “re”exposure was to happen in 2020/2021, the FBI/Prosecutor’s Office was supposed to be ready to catch the corrupt with the evidence that is needed to make arrests. I was told this would take time. I was told that the kids couldn’t just evaporate and that eventually the case would come to close. That day couldn’t come soon enough.

This has caused my family so much pain and stress. I feel for my kids that they have to share me with 50+kids that don’t even know her name. Still, I love children and am a life long advocate for them in various capacities, fighting child trafficking is just one way. Yes, This occupies a lot of my mental strength and energy. However, I feel this is my job, God’s purpose for me.

If you missed my last post, in addition to continuing to stand strong to the truth, I have returned back to school to venture into the world of political science. I imagine one day it will take me to Washington DC to fight trafficking on a legislative level. (Maybe in 3 years are so)

All I can say for now is, to be continued……..

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