ST. LOUIS — Human sex trafficking is on the rise and law enforcement in Missouri are trying to crackdown on these cases.
According to the FBI, in 2017 32,121 children went missing. Some of those could be victims of human trafficking.
Last year in Missouri, there were 140 cases reported.
Adam Kavanaugh, with the St. Louis region of the human trafficking task force, said, “A lot of the people we deal with are right here locally.”
Last month, a University city teen was a victim. The 16-year-old boy was lured from his home by someone online. The person he was talking to turned out to be a predator. The boy was found more than 600 miles from St. Louis in Louisiana. Authorities said he’s safe but not everyone is as lucky.
To try and solve the problem, police departments in the Metro area, Homeland Security, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office have formed a special task force to crackdown on these cases.
Kavanaugh said St. Louis and Chicago are main stopping points for human traffickers.
“For St. Louis, same as drugs, everything kind of comes through the Midwest to then make it out to the east and west coast,” he said.
He hopes the task force can help cut those cases down.
