In A Florida County, Sex Workers Are Ensnared In ‘Trafficking’ Raids
On Nov. 18, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister held a press conference to announce the results of Operation Trade Secrets II, a six-month sting that purported to target human traffickers. Flanked on one side by a placard of mugshots and on the other by a video of deputies handcuffing men and women in a hotel, Chronister told reporters that undercover detectives arrested 104 people.
“Like any business, the human trafficking industry boils down to supply and demand,” he said. “I strongly believe that in order to eradicate human trafficking, we must continue to focus on reducing the demand.”
But according to the sheriff’s own data, 28 of the arrests were sex workers charged with prostitution. Sixty-three others were charged with soliciting, a first-degree misdemeanor that, for a first-time charge, can result in one year in jail or a fine of up to $1,000. Though many of the people charged with soliciting in Operation Trade Secrets II were first-time offenders, some have paid fines exceeding $4,000, according to court documents. Others were diverted to a “misdemeanor intervention program” and charged a $75 fee.
Only three people were arrested and charged with human trafficking, defined by Florida law as “transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining, or obtaining another person for the purpose of exploitation of that person.”
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wow so uhm Florida is going to stop sex trafficking by arresting grown adults for consensual sex agreements like massages and prostitution.. How on earth does that kind of stupid even makes sense? America has gone over the Elizabethan era draconianism full tilt..What happened to the founding fathers concepts and the constitution which was based on the idea that what ever grown adults do that does not affect you is not your business and considered freedom? Yes people , unlike the tyranny you live under freedom is the right to do what ever you like as long as it does not harm someone else’s right to do the same..Two adults agreeing to have sex for money is no different then having sex after a dinner that cost money or after the movies and a date that cost money…If you continue to allow these lunatics to control you time cop the movie wont be fictional anymore.
Isn’t February sweeps month?