BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County Sheriff’s officials say 35 men have been arrested within county lines as part of a nationwide effort to crack down on human trafficking.
The National Johns Suppression Initiative involved 37 law enforcement agencies across 17 states.
It led to 1,020 arrests of sex buyers and the recovery of 81 victims, including six minors.
“Human traffickers prey on young females, 12-14 years of age, that have problems at home, that don’t have any parental guidance or anything like that.”
Sergeant Matt Wilson notes how victims get caught up in sex trafficking.
“Some sort of either force, fraud, or coersion, so either they’re drug dependent or they’re dependent on their “boyfriend” that they’re relying to give them either clothes, food, housing, something like that.”
Brown County’s arrests took place between July 17-20 in municipalities including Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, and De Pere, and included a wide range of people.
“We saw a 20-year-old that was about to get married, and then we saw up to a 64-year-old that was a single male, never been married.
Wilson notes one case that stood out.
“One of our detectives was in contact with a registered sex offender who was 49 years of age in Ashwaubenon. That individual agreed to have sex with a 15-year-old boy.”
The sheriff’s office says it is not releasing the names of those arrested at this time.
The National Johns Suppression Initiative started in Cook County, Illinois in 2011. This was Brown County’s first year of participating.
