Walking Dead's Andrea Helped Dismantle Colombian Sex-Trafficking Ring

It turns out that actress Laurie Holden is a far greater hero in real life than she ever was as [...]

By Andrew Steinbeiser - October 19, 2014 06:30 am EDT

It turns out that actress Laurie Holden is a far greater hero in real life than she ever was as Andrea on The Walking Dead.

ABC's Nightline reported that Holden volunteered in a recent sex-trafficking sting operation that saved 55 victims. Working with Operation Underground Railroad, an organization led by a former CIA Agent and Homeland Security investigator, Hurden helped stage a fake bachelor party in Colombia. Once the sex-traffickers brought their underage captives to the "party," and Underground Railroad's founder Tim Ballard gathered enough evidence, Colombian authorities raided the party and arrested the traffickers.

The entire operation, and the months leading up to it, were recorded by a team of documentary film makers. Their upcoming film on the sting, "The Abolitionists," contains mounds of evidence against the sex traffickers. The crew even set up hidden cameras throughout the fake bachelor party, recording the explicit exchange of money for girls needed in order to prosecute sex traffickers.

Nightline interviewed Holden after the raid, where she described the emotional experience. Still moved by the prior events, Holden struggled to finish her sentence before choking back tears.

"When they first showed up, some of them looked really terrified," she explained. "..One of the girls came in, embraced me, and started to cry. And then I started to cry."

You can watch the entire Nightline report, which includes Holden's interview below.