Chicago sex trafficking sting net 31 arrests, national total of arrests tops 600
Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart’s office said that south suburban police arrested 31 sex buyers as part of a nearly monthlong national sex trafficking sting operation.
Dart’s office stated that nationally, more than 30 law enforcement agencies in 16 states, resulted in the arrests of nearly 640 sex buyers.
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The office detailed some of the arrests: eight in Lansing, 16 in Matteson and Orland Hills police arrested seven sex buyers.
“Investigating human trafficking is one of the top priorities of the Lake County Sheriff’s Gang Task Force,” Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said in an announcement of the arrests. “Prostitution often involves human trafficking and juvenile sex trafficking, which is exactly why we conduct these investigations.”
Sheriff’s police, including a joint operation with Broadview police, made arrests of 57 sex buyers during the 15th annual National Johns Suppression Initiative, which ran from Jan. 7 through this past Sunday, Dart’s office said.
In addition to police in Illinois, law enforcement agencies in states including, California, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin were part of the initiative.
Last month, a California human trafficking sting has resulted in the rescue of 56 people, including 11 girls.
The crackdown led to more than 500 arrests, including 30 suspected traffickers and 178 alleged johns, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said.
