Green Bay, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County Sheriff John Gossage is surprised at the numbers and vows to bring more attention to the issue.
Several Northeast Wisconsin law enforcement agencies participated in the FBI’s 9th annual ‘Operation Cross Country’ last week, an effort targeting human trafficking operations.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Department was one of the agencies taking part.
Sheriff John Gossage says the cycle often begins with young girl running away from home.
An adult stranger takes them in….offering food and shelter.
Then, to stay out of the cold victims, often underage girls, are forced into prostitution.
10 adults and 3 traffickers arrested, just in Brown County.
That’s second only to the numbers reported in Milwaukee.
Appleton Police, Oshkosh Police, and Fond du Lac Police were also involved in Operation Cross Country.
Officers responded to ads on Backpage.com and Craigslist and made arrests outside several hotels.
Gossage says more attention will be paid to this problem, including help for the trafficking victims, in 2016.
As part of the national sweep, 149 underage victims were rescued and 153 pimps arrested in 135 cities.
