COOK COUNTY, IL (WCMH) — A national sex trafficking sting ended in the arrests of 552 would-be sex buyers or sex traffickers.
The National Johns Suppression Initiative began three weeks ago, ending on Super Bowl Sunday. 23 law enforcement agencies in 14 states took part in the crackdown.
“Sex trafficking continues to destroy countless lives, and this broad national movement should send a strong message to prospective johns that their ‘hobby’ is much more than a ‘victimless’ crime,” said Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Thomas J. Dart in a news release. “It’s particularly meaningful that this sting culminated on the day of the Super Bowl, which unfortunately has emerged as a prominent haven for sex trafficking.”
In addition to the arrests, police rescued 73 adult victims from human trafficking and 3 juvenile victims.
In the Houston area alone, where this year’s Super Bowl took place, law enforcement arrested 183 “johns” and 9 sex traffickers. Among those arrested was a Houston city employee who pulled up in a city vehicle, two firefighters, a retired police officer and a man who had his 4-year-old child in the car when he tried to buy sex.
