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‘He Made Me Do It’ Part 6: If you never met

Is a suspect in an Arizona jewelry store robbery also a victim of sex trafficking? The 12News I-Team spent more than a year trying to answer that question.

Erica Stapleton

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Published: 9:01 AM PDT August 9, 2024
Updated: 12:54 PM PDT September 22, 2024

This series discusses sexual assault, trafficking and suicide.  Please read and watch with care.

Helen couldn’t wait to get to Arizona.  She’d been accepted at ASU’s journalism school and she had dreams of being a photojournalist.  Coming from a rough childhood and a small town in New England, she was eager to start her new life.  So eager, that she started swiping on a dating app before she even landed in Phoenix.  It was an effort to try and meet new people in the new place she was about to call home.  But Helen Simmons swiped wrong.

Less than three weeks after she arrived in Phoenix, she was in jail.  She’d been arrested and charged in a jewelry store robbery with a guy she’d just met online.  A guy Helen said forced her into the crime.  A guy that Helen said made her do some horrible things. A guy that Helen said she couldn’t escape.

In the robbery case, Helen Simmons is a suspect.  But is she also a victim of domestic violence and sex trafficking? The 12News I-Team spent more than a year trying to answer that question.

He Made Me Do It  is an I-Team series that uncovers where things went horribly wrong for Helen Simmons.  We look at whether someone can be both a suspect and a victim and whether someone could be forced to commit a crime.  We investigate if allegations of abuse were ignored and if anyone could have helped Helen before or after meeting a guy with a history of hurting women. We also follow Helen through the criminal justice system as she faces serious prison time.

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