Virginia father John Kerrigan is accused of human trafficking by Southwest Airlines while flying with his teenage daughter

A Virginia father was confused when a Southwest Airlines crew accused him of human trafficking as he flew home from a trip to Las Vegas with his teenage daughter and her friend.

John Kerrigan was boarding his connecting flight to Virginia Beach at Denver International Airport on Oct. 21 with his 15-year-old daughter and her 16-year-old friend when flight crew became concerned.

A flight attendant approached the two teenagers and questioned them about their relationship with Kerrigan, who had left his seat to use the plane's restroom.

“She keeps asking if we're OK and if we know you,” Kerrigan recalled his daughter telling him, according to WAVY. “And I said it seemed strange to me.”

Unbeknownst to the father or the teenage girls, the flight crew had contacted Norfolk International Airport and reported Kerrigan as a suspected human trafficker.

The Department of Homeland Security's Blue Light Initiative provides guidelines and training for airport and aviation personnel to familiarize themselves with the signs of human trafficking.

The most common signs of a heinous crime include “an inauthentic relationship: particularly with a parent or guardian and a child.”

According to the airline's website, Southwest employees are trained to alert to the warning signs of human trafficking and are taught the protocols for alerting law enforcement officials.

Three police officers boarded the plane and confronted the trio as they arrived at the gate in Virginia.

“[They said]”Sir, would you like to follow us?” “We'd like to ask you a few questions,” Kerrigan said.

Kerrigan found his public escort quite humiliating and objected to his removal from the flight.

“I said, 'That's offensive.' I found it very offensive. I mean, I hadn’t done anything wrong,” he added.

Airport officials questioned Kerrigan for 20 minutes but let him go without charging him.

The Post has reached out to Southwest Airlines.

In September 2023, singer David Ryan Harris was flying with his biracial children when American Airlines employees accused him of child trafficking.

The “Don't Look Down” hitmaker, 55, traveled from Atlanta to Los Angeles with his sons Truman and Hendrix on September 15.

“Apparently a flight attendant had called ahead and was concerned that my mixed children might not be my children,” Harris said in the video posted on September 23rd.

“Because they didn’t respond during an interaction with her. We are embarrassingly greeted by this AA worker and police officer. They questioned my children.

Harris received an apology, with the airline claiming its policies regarding suspected human trafficking were not followed.

According to the Department of Justice Human Trafficking Report released in October 2024, over 1,900 people were referred to U.S. attorneys for human trafficking offenses in 2022.

Of the referrals, 1,656 were prosecuted, doubling the number compared to 2012, with 1,118 convictions made in 2022.

U.S. district courts have charged 1,070 defendants with one of three counts of human, sex and labor trafficking, with 91% men, 58% white, 20% black, 18% Hispanic, 95% U.S. citizens, and 71% having no criminal record .