Federal Bureau of Investigation records document fifty-two human trafficking convictions nationwide, including sex and forced labor, in just the first four months of this year.
In 2015, Ohio's Human Trafficking Commission reported 104 arrests and 33 successful criminal convictions.
Just last December, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Northern Ohio would be one of only six federal districts to be included in a special Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team Initiative to combat human trafficking.
Since 2010, nearly 50 defendants have been indicted in federal court in the Northern District of Ohio on human trafficking charges.
And last year, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center reported 21,947 calls to its hotline number that included 4,136 calls for alleged sex trafficking.
Even more alarming, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that 1 in 5 of the 11,800 runaways reported to the Center last year were likely sex trafficking victims--that's up from 1 in 6 in 2014.
Here in Cleveland, there is growing concern over sex trafficking as a result of an expected 50-thousand visitors for July's Republican National Convention.
Join me Friday on NewsChannel5 at 11 we reveal who they are, how they operate and hear from a victim who was only 16 years old when she was carried off from home and forced in modern day slavery for five years.
