Human trafficking report finds risk factors

It’s been a year since Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a new initiative to help identify frequent runaways who are at risk of being trafficked.

In the 2017 Human Trafficking Commission Annual Report released by the Attorney General’s Office on Jan. 29, The Ohio General’s Human Trafficking Commission has increased it focus on raising awareness of across the state through education and victim services.

The initiative involves the Bureau of Criminal Investigation Missing Persons Unit identifying those at risk by using data from the Ohio Missing Children Clearinghouse, a repository for statistics and information about Ohio’s missing children.

According to the report, runaways have an increased risk of being trafficked.

The BCI, upon identifying at-risk children, provides the information along with intervention assistance to local law enforcements agencies.

BCI last year identified 146 juveniles who were at risk and provided that information to 13 local law enforcement agencies, according to the Annual Report.

According to DeWine, his office been actively conducting trainings, educating law enforcements on high-risk youths and frequent runaways as part of the initiative.

“The trainings allow officers to learn about BCI’s services and ways to look further into each runaway’s case to identify risk factors,” DeWine said in the report. “We have also increased access to services for victims of human trafficking by providing more than $5 million in federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding to organizations and agencies that serve survivors of human trafficking.”

In the Cleveland Area, three suspects accused of using social media to recruit female victims were found guilty in 2017. That case involved the Warrensville Heights Police Department, FBI, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. The first defendant in the case was sentenced to an 18 year prison term for trafficking in persons, conspiracy, and compelling prostitution. The second defendant received a 15 year prison sentence for trafficking in persons and the third defendant received probation for promoting prostitution, according to the Human Trafficking Commission’s report.

“The efforts of the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission during the past 12 months have been instrumental in the fight against exploitation in Ohio,” DeWine said. “The partnerships that have been built and the relationships forged during commission meetings allow for a better response when survivors are identified and a greater ability to prosecute traffickers when they are exposed.”

The report noted that the 208 potential victims of human trafficking were identified in Ohio. More than 90 percent of the victims were female, and most victims being between the ages of 21 and 29

In 2017, according to data collected from law enforcement agencies, there were 202 human trafficking investigations which lead to 70 arrests and 18 successful criminal convictions.

There were also 257 suspected consumers/buyers/ johns that were identified by law enforcement, 183 of those were identified as consumers of sex trafficking and 74 were identified as consumers of labor trafficking.

“I’m proud of the work we do to protect and serve the victims of this heinous crime. By using our resources and working together, we’re able to approach this issue from many perspectives,” DeWine said.

“We will continue to build on this progress in 2018 as we fight the criminals who seek to exploit our children and others for their own illicit gain.”