Just five months into 2015, authorities report there have been two human trafficking stings in Williamson County, with 10 arrests and five victims rescued.
Four of those arrested lived in Brentwood and three resided in Franklin — now all face some varying charge related to human sex trafficking and prostitution.
But police say when the suspects weren’t involved in forcing women to have sex for money, they appeared regular members of the community; shopping at the same grocery stores, eating at the same restaurants and living in the same neighborhoods.
The incidents, which occurred in February and May, happened in places residents pass daily: one at a local Brentwood hotel in the busy Maryland Farms office district, and the other at two massage parlors in Franklin, one across the street from a high school.
And of course, there are those who use such “services” and perpetuate the demand for women to be forced into sexual slavery. As part of the most recent sting, a pastor who is an expectant father, an Army lieutenant and a small business owner were arrested in Clarksville.
It’s these unsettling details that Ondrea Johnson, director of education for End Slavery TN, said bring home the threat and presence of the illegal exploitation of women and children across the country for the purpose of forced sex work — a $32 billion annual industry involving an estimated 4.5 billion victims globally.
Johnson, a Franklin resident, said when people live in an affluent county with low crime rates, it’s sometimes easy to think those things don’t affect your community. (continue reading at Franklin Home Page)