DeWine vows continued fight against human trafficking

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

With a vow to go after the “scum that are preying on very vulnerable people,” Attorney General Mike DeWine has relaunched a statewide commission that is working to combat human trafficking in Ohio.

The renamed Human Trafficking Commission had its first meeting under DeWine on Monday in Columbus, picking up where his Democratic predecessor, Richard Cordray, left off.

Cordray headed the former Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, which compiled a series of reports on people in Ohio who have been or are at risk of being forced into prostitution and other illegal labor activities, plus recommendations for dealing with the issue.

“While the statutory commission may have issued a final report, our work is not done on the issue of human trafficking in Ohio,” DeWine said in a released statement. “The Human Trafficking Commission will help the attorney general’s office and law enforcement develop practices and proposals to root out human trafficking in our state.”

State officials already have taken some steps against human trafficking. Late last year, lawmakers passed and then-Gov. Ted Strickland signed legislation increasing criminal penalties against those found guilty of the crime.

And DeWine said his office is working to help local law enforcement educate officers and others about signs of human trafficking and to investigate potential instances of the crime.

“We want to be there to work with local law enforcement to criminally prosecute people who are violating the law in this particular area — people who are abusing children, people who are involved in human trafficking,” DeWine said. “We want to go after them.”

The attorney general’s office, citing statistics compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, estimated that at least 100,000 children in the United States are forced into prostitution and related trafficking annually.

“People don’t tend to realize that it’s a problem or that it’s a problem in Ohio or even that it’s a problem in Trumbull County,” said Rev. David E. MacDonald, pastor of the Niles First United Methodist Church who attended the meeting. “A lot of our efforts right now is getting people educated about what human trafficking is, what the signs are, what to look for and then who to report it to once you see it.”

MacDonald said there are a dozen massage parlors — businesses that often are suspected of prostitution and related illegal activities — in Trumbull County, including one that is less than a mile from his church.

“There’s a lot of people out there who, when they see what goes on both with prostitution and illicit massage parlors, say this is between two consenting adults, there’s no trafficking going on here, there’s no crime being committed,” MacDonald said. “And we’re saying let’s look at that a little deeper.”