Cindy McCain told a local news station she had saved a child she saw at a Phoenix airport from being a victim of human trafficking, but police are refuting her claims.
“I went over to the police and told them what I saw and they went over and questioned her and, by God, she was trafficking that kid,” McCain told KTAR. She added that the woman was “waiting for the guy who bought the child to get off an airplane.”
McCain, who for years has worked to fight human and sex trafficking, says she grew suspicious because the child was a “different ethnicity” than its parents. She says “it looked odd,” and “something didn’t click with me.”
But her claims are being disputed by law enforcement.
Phoenix Police told say they conducted a welfare check on the child “at McCain’s request,” KTAR reports.
The police “determined there was no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment,” an officer reports.
McCain has since apologized.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license