Tulsa - crossroads of sex trafficking Tulsa, Oklahoma recently saw another round of arrests as local law enforcement took to the streets and wrapped up 42 individuals who were involved in an organized sex trafficking network.  The recent sweep, code-named “Operation Trojan Horse, which according to www.Newson6.com, resulted with

• Thirteen arrests for engaging in prostitution

• Twenty arrests for soliciting prostitution

• Seven arrests for pandering

• One arrest for aiding and abetting prostitution

• One arrest for possession of methamphetamine

In addition, one of those picked up during the sweep included a 15-year-old girl who had been coerced and intimidated into prostitution.  Tulsa, located along Route 66 has often been considered one of the many crossroads for traffickers. Craig Williams, a trafficking investigator with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, “told a group of attorneys in May 2013 that sex trafficking is a highly profitable criminal business.

“I don’t like talking about people as a commodity but the reality of it is, in human trafficking — and to make it make sense — people become commodities,” he said, speaking at a May training session in Oklahoma City organized by the Oklahoma Bar Association.

“That’s the way a trafficker looks at a person, as a straight commodity. They don’t look at a personality or their individual value. That’s one of the things that makes trafficking so evil,” Williams said. He described how trafficking victims might work 15 “events” per day, with a potential profit of $200,000 per year, per victim.”  (Source: Doorway to victimization)

VIDEO:  Operation Trojan Horse – Tulsa, OK – September 2013

For additional reading:

Skin Trade – Oklahoma is the crossroads for human trafficking

Sex trafficking investigation leads to 42 arrests in Tulsa, other … – KOKI

Tulsa prostitution sting finds human trafficking victims, one only 15 …

 

Photo credit:  Tom Baddley via Compfight