State: 7 people indicted in 2 separate human trafficking rings across New Jersey
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General says the rings were operating in Cumberland and Essex counties.
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The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General says that seven men and women were indicted in two separate human trafficking rings in northern and southern New Jersey, one of them involving children.
Attorney General Matt Platkin announced that the two human trafficking rings were dismantled - one in Cumberland County involving defendants from Bridgeton and a second one in Essex County, with defendants from Newark and Irvington.
"I think it’s important to underscore the locations here because we know that human trafficking knows no boundaries and in fact operates both throughout our state, throughout this country and indeed across the globe,” Platkin said.
In the Cumberland County-based ring, new victims were picked up on a weekly basis from Paterson and Queens, New York, according to the indictment.
"Women were recruited on the false pretense that they would be working as dancers but instead they were taken to a Bridgeton home where they were offered for commercial sex,” said Platkin.
In the Essex County-based ring, a suspected female trafficker forced two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old to perform sex acts.
"The defendants allegedly arranged for the victims to engage in sex acts using smartphone apps and posting online ads, including nude photos of the minors,” Platkin said.
In the Bridgeton case, the state grand jury returned an indictment against Usiel Luna, along with his alleged co-conspirators—Jose Perez-Lopez, Rosendo Vazquez-Hernandez and Yerson Puentes-Marquez. All are from Bridgeton.
In the Essex County case, the state grand jury returned an indictment against Khailah Meekins, and her alleged co-conspirator, Donte Barkley, both from Newark. A third suspect, Richard Johnson, from Irvington, was indicted this summer, on related charges including aggravated sexual assault after allegedly paying for one of the minors to engage in sexual activity with him.
Defendants in both cases stand to face a sentence of 20 to life for a crime in the first degree for human trafficking.
