Our great state has long been stained with the seedy reputation as a hotbed for human trafficking. Indeed one can readily find Ohio ranked among the top five states in the nation for the number of cases of this insidious and destructive crime.

It’s easy to understand why. The crime involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act, and the Buckeye State rises as a lightning rod in the perfect storm of ingredients that enable trafficking to thrive. Those include significant substance abuse, economic instability and a robust network of interstate highways, truck stops and rest stops.

In response, however, state and Mahoning Valley authorities have fought back aggressively, and 2025 promises to be a banner year in that fight. In law enforcement

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