AG candidate outlines plan to fight human trafficking
Human trafficking stories like the one of a woman forced to work for a cult in several cities, including Dayton, are the reason Steve Dettelbach said he’s put forward a nine-point plan to combat modern-day slavery.
Dettelbach, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor, is running for Ohio attorney general against Republican Dave Yost, the state auditor.
In an exclusive interview Monday with the Dayton Daily News, Dettelbach stressed the need for citizens to help identify human trafficking and outlined his strategy to strengthen the state’s laws.
“This is a horrible problem everywhere, but it is a bad problem in Ohio,” Dettelbach said. “It hides in plain sight all over the state, in cities, in rural areas.”
Dettelbach said that as a young prosecutor for the Justice Department, he prosecuted what was then the largest trafficking case in the country when he convicted the operators of a California sweatshop for illegally smuggling 70 Thai women into the country and using them as slaves.
Dayton-area local and federal law enforcement agencies said they didn’t know Kendra Ross was trafficked by the United Nation of Islam (UNOI, now known as Value Creators) and that she was forced to work up to 17 unpaid hours per day at the Food for Life Supreme restaurant on Sieben-
thaler Avenue.
“We need the general public (to help),” Dettelbach said. “People work in restaurants. People work in motels. People work in fields that peo- ple drive by in the car, in massage parlors, in nail par- lors, in our local dry clean- ers. Whatever it is, if peo- ple speak up we will be able to really push back on this crime.”
The main points of Dettel- bach’s plan:
■ Toughen the penalties for soliciting sex with minors. He says Ohio’s penalties for people who pay for sex with minors are too weak, espe- cially against repeat offenders.
■ Crack down on child pornography. He says research shows nearly half of sex trafficking victims are forced to make pornography.
■ Expand access to emer- gency housing and other ser- vices for sex trafficking survivors. He’s calling for better support and funding for Ohio nonprofits to strengthen our response for victims, partic- ularly children.
■ Expressly ban using the internet to sell minors for sex. He says the law is behind technology and his plan calls forselling minors on the internet a second-de- gree felony for a first offense.
■ Outlaw sex trafficking of 16- and 17-year-olds under any circumstances. He supports current proposed legislation eliminating requirements of the law for proof of “force, fraud, or coercion.”
■ Close legal loopholes for pimps of children because Ohio law does not expressly prohibit pimps who sell minors for sex from claiming the child “consented” as a legal defense.
■ Penalize businesses and individuals who profit from sex trafficking, includ- ing smugglers, illegal mas- sage parlors and others who knowingly provide transportation, lodging or other services that help traffickers.
■ Ban child-sex tourism at high-profile events like political conventions and sporting events, which he said Ohio’s law currently doesn’t do.
■ Work with county prosecutors and local law enforcement to establish additional Human Trafficking Task Forces like those in Toledo and Cleveland to cover Ohio.
“I have seen these children, sometimes, and young women and young men sit (on the witness stand) and prove that they were the ones who were stronger,” Dettelbach said. “And if they can stand up for themselves after what they have gone through, you better believe we need to fight and stand up for them as a state.”