Ohio human trafficking sting nets 135 arrests

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio’s attorney general announced the arrests of more than 100 people statewide as part of a human trafficking crackdown.

Attorney General Dave Yost called it “Operation Next Door,” which included the arrests of dozens of people from central Ohio.

The operation included more than 100 law enforcement agencies that made 135 arrests; 103 of those arrests were people charged with engaging in prostitution or solicitation. Yost said they made 32 felony arrests and executed nine human trafficking-related search warrants. 

“There needs to be consequences,” Yost said. “Human trafficking is just as much a serious offense as those other things and, in some ways, is among the most serious offenses we ever have in our society, because it breaks this. It’s not just a violation of the body; it’s a violation of personhood. It breaks the soul, and it deserves to be prosecuted.”

Yost said the six-day-long sting operation’s name highlighted the issue being in plain sight.

“Operation Next Door happens everywhere,” he said. “Human trafficking is everywhere. It’s not a city/country kind of thing. It’s not a poor/rich kind of thing. It’s not an ethnic kind of thing. It’s your neighbors, it’s your coworkers. It’s the delivery guy. It is the people at the hotel for your business trip. It is not okay.”

Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin and his Internet Crimes Against Children task force played a big role in the sting.

“Last week was a busy week,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin said deputies arrested a 77-year-old man on a charge of pandering sexually oriented material to a minor; the suspect claimed to be a federal defense attorney. The task force also arrested four Columbus residents for allegedly seeking sex with minors.

“If you’re a person that wants to engage in child porn, human trafficking, bring all we can to hunt you down and prosecute you, and hopefully you go to jail and learn your lesson,” Baldwin said.

Hilliard, Dublin and Grove City police also teamed up for the operation. 

“This is not just a big city issue; this is in the suburbs, this is everywhere,” Hilliard Chief of Police Mike Woods said. “We went to a hotel, and again, you would be surprised to know where that hotel was. But the hotel is not the issue. It’s the people that go there to traffic and engage in illegal sex activities. We’re going to be there.”

Yost said his message to the community is that if you think you see human trafficking, don’t let it go unreported.

“If something doesn’t seem right, if your sixth sense is going off, if you don’t, if you don’t think something’s right, give us a call,” he said. “Let us sort it out.”

Yost said law enforcement is offering services to dozens of human trafficking survivors.