Potential Trafficking Victims Identified During All-Star Weekend

CLEVELAND — While superstar athletes and celebrities converged in Cleveland for NBA All-Star Weekend, law enforcement was cracking down on prostitution and possible human trafficking in Northeast Ohio.

Eight people looking to pay for sex were taken into custody during an operation called "Fouled Out," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Monday.

“This operation’s mission was two-fold: to arrest johns soliciting sex and to proactively encounter potential victims,” Yost said. “Our task reinforced both the consequences for buying sex and the pathways available for victims to find a way out.”

Law enforcement also identified 15 people selling sex, Yost's office said. Anyone identified as a potential victim of human trafficking was offered health care and access to social services, including the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and Canopy Child Advocacy Center.

“We are proud to showcase our city to the nation and world on this All-Star weekend, but we want to be clear that sexual violence and human trafficking have no place here,” said Sondra Miller, president and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. “We applaud the agencies that work collaboratively to hold sex offenders accountable today and every day.”

The operation was coordinated through Yost's office and led by the Cuyahoga Regional Human Trafficking Task Force.