Human Trafficking in Northeast Ohio

It was just past midnight in North Olmsted and the Cuyahoga County Regional Human Trafficking Task Force was assisting the Westshore Enforcement Bureau (WEB) on an investigation at the Camelot Inn.

Some of the officers wore bulletproof vests. One held a battering ram to break the motel room door if needed. He shouted: “Police! Open the door.” After the order was repeated several times, the door swung open and officers rushed into the room.

“We are executing a search warrant for these premises regarding both drug abuse and suspected prostitution activities,” said WEB Special Agent Jeff Capretto. “We suspect there is human trafficking occurring."

Before heading to the Camelot Inn, at least a dozen officers gathered around a table at the North Olmsted Police Department, sifting through information.  One officer texted a woman he believed was holed up inside the motel room; another called an informant.  WEB Special Agent Capretto tried to locate the suspect, Courtney Hamilton, who they believed was selling women for sex inside that motel room.

Told by the informant that Hamilton was on his way to the motel on Lorain Road, task force officers decided it was time for them to go there, too.

Once on the scene, they watched from their cars as vehicles entered the motel parking lot. After about an hour, they saw the car they were looking for and moved in.

Officers found the room a mess with two women, who looked disheveled and high, and a man, later identified as a “john,” inside. They also found crack cocaine.

One of the women said she met Hamilton on Facebook. Within a few weeks, she said, he had her hooked on heroin.

She said she didn’t remember how long she’d been in the motel room.

Hamilton was not there, but uniformed officers soon arrested him during a traffic stop near the motel.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors indicted Hamilton on 14 charges including human trafficking, promoting prostitution and drugs. He pled guilty to two counts of trafficking and one count of promoting prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Cuyahoga County Regional Human Trafficking Task Force’s goal is to apprehend suspected traffickers and rescue the women they are selling. 

From its inception in 2016 through the end of 2018, the task force received 158 tips, served 29 search warrants and recovered 79 people. Its investigations led to 67 indictments and six convictions. Other cases are pending in the court system.

Ten officers, who work around the clock, make up the task force. At times, investigations may sprawl across the country and involve many pimps and women.

Mackey said the task force can’t catch these criminals on its own.

“We need community help through different social service organizations as well as different government organizations,” said Mackey. “We've been able to educate both the general community and the professionals working in this space, and that is one of the biggest things that has led to an awareness of human trafficking.”

In 2018, Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) introduced a bill aimed at increasing penalties for those convicted of promoting prostitution. The bill passed the Senate, but died in the House. Dolan introduced Senate Bill 5 in February. It has passed the Senate and is making its way through the House Criminal Justice Committee.

Welsh said that if this bill does become law, it would keep repeat offenders behind bars even longer.

“It's very common for us to see people who are repeat offenders of promoting prostitution,” she said.  “I think that for some of these people, it's worth the cost of business if you can make thousands and thousands of dollars a week or in some cases you're making maybe $1,000 or $2,000 a day, and the worst penalty that you face is 18 months in prison. If you're a career criminal, maybe it’s worth that cost to keep committing these crimes.”

Tenisha Gant-Watson founded Jordan Community Resource Center in 2004.  Through the nonprofit, Watson runs several homes for women trying to get off drugs and rebuild their lives. Many of the women on the Human Trafficking Specialized Docket stay at these homes while in the diversion program.

“People ask me why I do what I do. And I say, well these are women in crisis, these are women who have gone through incarceration or something like that. And so I'm here to help,” said Gant-Watson.

She knows all too well what these women are going through, because she, too, is a survivor.  Gant-Watson realized that recently while sitting in Judge Cassidy’s courtroom.

“Because of the trauma that is associated with [human trafficking], you separate yourself from it. You even bury it to such a degree that it’s like another life, another lifestyle. And when I said, ‘I am one of them,’ I just began to weep,” said Gant-Watson.

As a teenager, she said, she moved from California to Cleveland and met a man old enough to be her father She was vulnerable, and he knew how to sweet-talk her.

What she thought was romance soon turned violent and he forced her to commit fraud in several states. Those crimes landed her in prison for two years when she was 21.

After prison, Gant-Watson returned to Cleveland, rebuilt her life and now helps others rebuild theirs.

Ending Human Trafficking

Since 2007, the nonprofit Collaborative to End Human Trafficking has worked to educate people about the warning signs of this often under-the-radar crime.

Karen Walsh, the Collaborative’s president and CEO, says everyone should be on the lookout for behavior that isn’t quite right. 

The Collaborative holds quarterly meetings for a partnership called Greater Cleveland’s Coordinated Response to Human Trafficking. It's more than 40 participating organizations include representatives from the hotel and restaurant industries, law enforcement, health care and the courts.

Walsh wants everyone to understand that this crime is not the fault of victims who are lured into sex work.

“I think in the early years, people would often blame the victim,” she said. “They’d assume that since she’s involved or he is involved in criminal activity, they are the criminals. They’re doing things that are against the law. Many people would blame that individual and say she knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s the criminal without looking to, who’s the pimp? Who’s the trafficker? And who’s the individual who’s purchasing her for commercial sex?”

Beyond understanding the context, Walsh wants people to be on the lookout for red flags.

For instance, she says, “How does it appear in a hotel setting? How does a front desk clerk know that when someone comes into their hotel with maybe some minor children at two o’clock in the morning and wants to pay cash and have a room by the door. But they have no luggage. That should all raise red flags.”