In Salt Lake City, Utah, 71 people were arrested for human trafficking during an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. They were part of over 1,300 people who have been arrested around the country during similar stings. In Utah, at least six children were rescued between the ages of 5 and 12, reports KSL.com.
The District Attorney General’s office stated it was “troubling” to see the number of people involved in sexual exploitation of minors. They said, "The demand is huge, and the internet plays a massive role in creating the demand, advertising the product, whatever criminal enterprise you're involved in.”
Todd Jeremy Rettenberger, 37, was one of those arrested in April. Rettenberger was charged with “making women work as prostitutes at the Plaza, Royal Garden, Little America and Ramada hotels in Salt Lake City and the Crossland Hotel in Springfield, Oregon.” Rettenberger solicited clients on a website called backpage.com. Many believe human trafficking only involves street abductees who are sent to another state or country. This is an understatement. In Rettenberger’s case, two of his victims said he threatened to harm them and their families. If they stopped “working," he would force them into violent sex acts.
Because law enforcement today is better educated about trafficking and have been given the tools by lawmakers to prosecute such cases, cases that just 5 or 10 years ago would have been classified as prostitution involving "pimps" and "Johns" are now being handled as human trafficking, Reyes said. The problem, he said, is these cases no longer involve a car pulling up to a curb and soliciting a woman on the sidewalk, he said.
Chief of Investigations Leo Lucy with the Attorney General’s office made this threat to traffickers: