TRENT SHORES discusses human trafficking, guns and drugs

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma is responsible for enforcing all federal laws within its jurisdiction, which includes Tulsa County, Creek County, and essentially the entire northeast corner of Oklahoma.

The district’s 29 attorneys handle everything from civil and administrative cases to some of most headline grabbing criminal prosecutions, all under the direction of U.S. Attorney Trent Shores, who has headed up the Tulsa office for the past two years.

In an exclusive interview with La Semana, Shores discussed the range of crimes threatening Oklahomans today, one of the worst of which is human trafficking.

“As long as we see a demand for commercial sex, then we will see women and children exploited,” Shores said, “…and people profiting off of the exploitation of women and teenage girls is what we frequently see.”

Shores said most people typically think of trafficking as it relates to women being smuggled across the border and forced into the sex trade, but it can be a homegrown crime as well.

“What we also see is trafficking that is born out of our own community,” Shores explained “where teenage girls that are in high school here in Tulsa, Oklahoma are being approached and exploited by adult men. They’re pimps, and they are exploiting teenage girls and selling them for sex on the internet. That, too, is human trafficking.”

Fighting this type of crime requires coordination between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and Shores said his office’s extraordinarily good relationship with the other key players in Tulsa is a big help in this regard. He also meets with his fellow U.S. Attorneys and other law enforcement agencies from across the country to learn how other districts have succeeded in fighting violent crime, especially in minority communities.

“We learn from these partner cities about how they’ve tackled violent crime problems, how they’ve tackled human trafficking, how they’ve engaged with their Hispanic and Latino communities,” Shores said, “and if there are things we can learn from their experiences that we think would work here that would be a benefit to the community we serve.”

While Tulsa may not be home to an El Chapo, the city certainly sees its share of drug crimes, and one drug in particular remains a scourge.

“In Oklahoma and in the Northern District, methamphetamine continues to be the number one illicit drug of choice,” Shores said. “More than 80% of the methamphetamine in the United States comes from super labs in Mexico. It is transported across the border in some way and then it makes it onto our streets.”

Shores said that another drug more commonly associated with much larger cities has also found its way into Green Country.

“The second most prevalent drug that’s making a big comeback is heroin,” Shores said. “We are seeing with more and more frequency heroin popping up on the streets of Tulsa and in the surrounding communities. More disturbing as we look at the opioid crisis across America is the presence of Fentanyl.”

Shores explained that Fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid – is often made in China and sold on the black market in the United States, where it can be mixed with less pure heroin and sold to unsuspecting drug addicts.

“We’re seeing that Fentanyl more and more is causing overdoses and deaths,” Shores lamented.

Asked about the recent spate of mass shootings and gun violence in the U.S., Shores said there are a number of existing laws that could be better enforced to prevent guns from falling into the hands of those who commit murder. He noted that federal law prohibits those convicted of even misdemeanor domestic violence from owning a firearm, and said that too many cases of domestic violence “compound and escalate into a death.”

Shores said he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment but acknowledged there are a number of ways gun buyers are able to avoid background checks and obtain weapons they might technically be barred from owning.

Shores said that immigrants should have no fears over calling law enforcement when they are the victims of crimes, and that his office, while obligated to enforce immigration law, is primarily concerned with getting violent criminals and dangerous drugs off the streets.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office can often be seen at local Hispanic community events and has embarked on a program of community engagement and outreach with the goal of answering questions and sharing public safety resources.

“We value the Hispanic community as a part of our Tulsa and northern Oklahoma community,” Shores said. “We’re all part of the same community, and in that regard we care. If there are justice related public safety challenges that exist in your neighborhood, in your Hispanic community, then you should reach out…we want to help make your community safer.”

Shores stressed that callers reporting crimes can remain anonymous. (La Semana)