Update: As of January 31, 2012, Alex Campbell has been convicted of sex trafficking. Read more here.
Most people probably don’t imagine that sex trafficking happens in an affluent place like Mt. Prospect. Just last week, however, a man was charged with child sex trafficking in a massage parlor in that Chicago suburb. He is charged with forcing a child into prostitution and branding his employees.
When you see these stories like this one in the news, look for what’s missing. Who is buying sex from women and girls? Most likely, it’s men who live in the area and think they have the right to buy sex from another person. When we look the other way as men buy sex, the demand for prostitution thrives, and women and children are at risk of being trafficked.
CAASE and our End Demand partners are proud that law enforcement is targeting traffickers. Together, we can fight to hold the invisible perpetrators in these stories accountable—the people who are fueling sex trafficking by buying other people.
To learn more about how you can help, visit www.enddemandillinois.org.