Human Trafficking in Ohio - Toledo Rated Fourth in US

[stopracism]

Human Trafficking In Ohio
Toledo rated fourth for youth-sex trade in U.S.; city tops per capita for arrests, rescues of children
February 11, 2010
By Jim Provance
Blade Columbus Bureau Chief

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll...NEWS16/2110353

COLUMBUS — In what may be the first attempt to quantify Ohio's role as a major customer and recruiter in modern-day slavery, a state task force has estimated that more than 1,800 people may be trafficked in the state at any given time.

Celia Williamson, the University of Toledo professor who chaired the task force's research committee, admitted that attaching numbers to the problem is an inexact science.

But she said the estimates presented yesterday likely are on the conservative side.

“We don't have two years [for more study],” she said, noting that she believes the study may be the first of its kind in any state. “There are victims now in modern-day slavery.”

The research subcommittee of the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission noted that metropolitan Toledo ranks fourth in the nation behind Miami, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas when it comes to raw numbers of arrests, investigations, and rescues of children involved in sex trafficking.

Considering Toledo's and Lucas County's smaller population compared to the other cities, the report said Toledo must be considered the per capita leader of the nation for such activities.

Toledo received unwelcome national attention when a 2005 federal investigation into a child prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Pa., revealed that nine area girls had been sold as slaves and that at least 12 of 31 people charged had ties to the city.

The new study used as one of its sources a 2006 series by The Blade, “Lost Youth: Teenage Sex Trade,” which brought to light the little-known fact of teenage prostitution and Toledo's emergence as a major recruitment hub at the hands of pimps.

“Because of Ohio's position in the country, it is not likely that Ohio is the original destination for many traffickers,” the report reads. “It is more likely that Ohio is one of the states where victims are sold while they are being moved around.

“Once the market demand is established, it is then likely that Ohio becomes the direct destination route from a country of origin into Ohio,” it adds. “Therefore, the existence of human trafficking in neighboring states becomes a pull factor for those victims to also be sold in various venues in Ohio.”

Ohio's proximity to the Canadian border, its access to major transportation arteries, and the prevalence of agricultural camps, strip clubs, and massage parlors make it a haven for the trafficking of human beings for sex and labor.

{}