It is evident Scioto
County has an evil underbelly. Lifelong residents can attest to “Good
Old Boy” politics and local political corruption while experiencing
increased criminal activity on their streets and highways. Certain
members of both the legal and the enforcement communities are
believed to be involved in sex trafficking. Of course, they deny it;
however, the Cincinnati Enquirer recently released a detailed
report of the activity. The evidence is strong. Some charges have
already been made and others are sure to follow.
Corruption – How
Trafficking Occurs
“When
you’re looking at our prison system, it’s literally a fish pool
of vulnerabilities. Women with substance abuse disorder, people who
don’t have any family support, homelessness – if you want to find
a victim, all you have to do is go through the court transcripts …
and offer them a way out.”
– Nicole
Bell, who worked as a prostitute after being trafficked as a teen
Human Trafficking is
defined in as a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from
the control and exploitation of others. Sex trafficking is any
commercial sex act that is compelled by force, fraud or coercion.
Under federal law, any minor under the age of 18 induced into
commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking.
Labor trafficking is the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a
person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or
coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, debt
bondage or slavery. Under Ohio law, Trafficking in Persons is a
first-degree felony with a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.
Trafficking in persons for
sex and labor is one of the most lucrative forms of organized crime.
Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry globally. Contrary to
some misconceptions, human trafficking crimes do not require any
smuggling or movement of the victim.
Even if these victims of
sexual abuse are not moved from place to place, local players use and
abuse them. Trafficking victims are exploited in many ways:
prostitution, debt bondage, forced or bonded labor, and contractual
servitude.
Deception is used to
target victims who often know the person recruiting them. Many times
family members of victims serve as the recruiters, abusing trust in
order to personally profit from the trafficking. Research shows that
46 per cent of trafficking victims know their recruiter.
Victims that are tricked
by recruiters may be searching for a way to flee poverty,
unemployment, or prosecution. Traffickers employ a variety of control
tactics, including physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault,
confiscation of identification and money, isolation from friends and
family, and even renaming their victims.
However, no victims expect
the exploitation that is to come at the hands of the recruiters and
those further along the trafficking chain. Similarly to illicit trade
in general, organized trafficking requires systematic
corruption. Corruption is a constant companion to human trafficking
and the suffering that it brings. Corruption is the lubricant that
allows the wheel of human trafficking to adequately operate,
Pay-offs to police, courts
and other public sector officials result in state institutions being
willing to turn a blind eye to trafficking gangs or even to
participate in them.
Besides, trafficking has
low risks of detection, prosecution and arrest compared to other
transnational crimes (crimes that have actual or potential effect
across national borders and crimes that are intrastate but offend
fundamental values of the international community.). While the legal
controls are state-based, the crime groups are transnational which
creates difficulties for law enforcement to combat effectively.
The mix of profit and
impunity through easily “bought” protection from law enforcers
and politicians has created a “high reward/low risk” scenario for
human traffickers and their accomplices. The cycle is perfectly
structured for easy control and tit-for-tat favors. The system is
clandestine, state-sponsored sexual control.
Corruption in the
trafficking in persons cycle:
- allows the crime to be invisible
- facilitates the impunity once cases of trafficking in persons are detected
- facilitates the execution of the crime, and
- can assure the re-victimization of trafficked victims
“Corruption is an
insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on
societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to
violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of
life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human
security to flourish.”
Targets of Abuse
Sex trafficking is a form
of modern slavery that thrives largely because its victims are
dismissed as society’s castaways – hookers, addicts, the homeless
– and because its signature act, prostitution, is often shrugged
off as a victimless crime.
Dr. Sharon Cooper, founder
and CEO of Developmental and Forensic Pediatrics, says, “Some of
the biggest factors that lead vulnerable children to become
vulnerable adults are poverty, homelessness, abuse at home, the
foster system, and glamorization of the sex industry.” Runaway and
homeless youths – male, female, and transgender – are at
particularly high risk for becoming victims, though some trafficked
youths continue living at home and attending school.
Many victims do not report
abuse for obvious reasons such as the fear of reprisals from those
who enslaved them and the reality of the stigma associated with
prostitutes as being unreliable witnesses.
They either do not see
themselves as victims, or they may have a suspicion of authorities
and a lack of awareness that (authorities) are in a position to help.
Experts say trafficking victims often acquire a type of Stockholm
Syndrome – where due to unequal power, they create a false
emotional or psychological attachment to their controller.
“I was
in search of a family, and they provided me with a sense of value,
however messed up,” she says. “I saw them as the people who had
saved me, when they were actually the people who were victimizing me
the worst.”
-- Windie
Lazenko, who at 13 fled what she describes as an abusive home life in
California for what seemed like the safety of a friendly couple she
had met
through a local motorcycle gang
Unfortunately, typical
rescues are muddied by erroneous criminalization, failed service
provision, and re-victimization of human trafficking survivors, as
well as the infrequent conviction of their offenders. federal
prosecutions of those who trafficked children for sex dropped 26.7%
over 2018.
One reason the crime can
be so hard to prosecute is that the kind of work that victims do such
as agricultural jobs, service jobs, or janitorial work is often
perfectly legal by nature. This applies in particular to those who
enter the U.S. legally on an H-2 visa.
The truth about Scioto
County is that corruption in the form of trafficking has gone on for
many, many years. Women and, yes, girls, have been persuaded to trade
sexual favors for money, drugs, and lighter sentences by a cast of
criminals posing as officials and officers in the halls of justice.
Whether these men use the girls for labor, entertainment, or
prostitution, they contribute to their eventual impairment or demise.
Many of these deviants in
guarded positions claim to have helped young women with money and
favor in their times of need, but those explanations are merely false
alibis for covering their crimes and their neglect of duty. It must
be understood that corruption is responsible for inequality,
mistreatment, abuse, and even death.
Even though these
officials may claim sexual activity occurred with a legal and
consenting partner, the officials who engaged in the acts broke the
rules, the law, and the public trust. Make no mistake, these
positions require proper conduct, and improper conduct requires
termination and legal charges. Indifference breeds continuation in a
corrupt system.
Any so-called
“secret-keeping” about trafficking is a hindrance to justice.
Fellow lawyers, judges, court officers, enforcement officers, and
others who are subject to hide any illegal activities are complicit.
In addition, concealing evidence makes them look suspicious and also
reduces public confidence. Of course, many who witnessed abuses will
lie and swear they knew nothing about the ongoing corruption. Others
will say they knew, but were unable to do anything about it. How many
actually tried?
It's not like the
community is unaware of the people who have plundered the network of
abuse for personal gain. The public has long been waiting for some
higher power to bring these offenders to justice.
The area has been racked
by all of those involved in the opioid epidemic. Everyone is
aware of the obvious players – the dealers, the pill mills, the
addicts. But, the trade surely includes corrupt officials who profit
from their interplay with pimps and prostitutes. A fuck here, a blow
job there, and, of course, all the other benefits that come from a
highly suspect, misguided consignment of legal control. The officials
engaged use their positions to prey upon the marginalized women who
need a few dollars for a fix, for reduced bail, for a place to stay,
or even for a meal.
The victims of the
corruption are here … they are female members – usually young and
extremely vulnerable – of our communities. They likely live next
door – in Portsmouth, Sciotoville, Wheelersburg, and in all the
towns and villages of the county. Some of them have survived and have
overcome the bondage they endured. Many of these survivors are still
too frightened to expose their stories. Others are too damaged to
rise above. They become the expendable carnage of a corrupt system
that deals in human flesh – they are the abused women, the
casualties of sex trafficking.
We understand everyone is
innocent until proven guilty. Accusations can be false. Yet, how long
have we seen and heard of the evil in the system? We talk with so
many that say their names in disgust and pray for justice. At times,
we even blame the victims. We sometimes think: “Well, drugs,
criminals, whores. They deserve the consequences they receive.”
The truth is no man, woman
or child should be forced, coerced or compelled to engage in sexual
activity for the benefit of another person. Those who are
marginalized such as addicts, prostitutes, prisoners, and homeless
people must be protected from such abuse because they represent the
most at risk to be manipulated and abused. If they are used within
the confines of the system, then the system, itself, is corrupt. And,
when the legal system is infected by unscrupulous people and aided by
corrupt enforcement, that system is a blight to any community.
Read the Cincy Enquirer Report: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/09/05/sex-trafficking-ohio-women-allege-probation-officer-abused-power/2219063001/
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