OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The Investigators at Local 4 have obtained video of men being busted in a human trafficking sting in Oakland County.
In the undercover sting, men were busted after showing up to an Oakland County hotel to have sex with women. It’s the latest work in stopping human trafficking.
It’s well known that the week of the Dream Cruise lures human traffickers to set up shop in hotels and Airbnb’s -- and that’s where busts are going down. Detectives have spent much of their time and attention stopping human traffickers -- now they’re putting effort into busting the people bankrolling those trafficking.
Detective Sgt. Mike Miles with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office says most of these men are married, blue collar, and white collar workers. Miles tells us they’ve seen all types of men at these operations -- from the CEOs of companies, to engineers, to the owners of dealerships.
“A lot of the reaction is, ‘Oh my gosh, my family might find out about this, my wife might find out about this.’ We’ve had them, they took their family, dropped them off at a wedding, and he left the reception to come to our hotel and he’s now realizing, ‘Uh oh, my family’s going to know I left the reception to go here,” Miles said.
Miles is the commander of the human trafficking unit in Oakland County. In a recent sting, investigators had 45 different male subjects they were in contact with in only five hours.
So far, the Oakland County task force has arrested 45 individuals (including ‘Johns’), leading to 57 felonies and 19 misdemeanors.
Miles said that many of the ‘Johns’ don’t realize the majority of the women they’re meeting for sex are being forced to be there.
“A lot of times, it’s the trafficker that’s posting those threads. A lot of times, the people you’re communicating with isn’t that girl in that room. It’s her trafficker that’s typing on that thread, having a conversation with you,” Miles said.
Cindy Brown, chief of the Human Trafficking Division, tells us that they attack human trafficking from multiple angles, by not just arresting the traffickers -- with a focus on helping victims.
“If we can attack it from multiple angles, we’ll be more successful in terms of what we’re doing in Oakland County,” Brown said.
It’s a digital criminal maze that the task force is eroding post by post.
“The technology that we have is allowing us to basically track trackers online into various commercial websites, commercial sex websites. Track them around the country, not just here in Michigan or in Oakland County. It allows us to identify more than just, perhaps, the one victim that we recognize during the course of a sting or through a hospital or a hotel clerk who calls us. So, it is allowing us to really identify trackers and assist more victims,” Brown said.
Whether it’s a hotel or an Airbnb, the task force is out, especially as visitors from around the country descend up and down Woodward Avenue for the Dream Cruise.
The Oakland County task force is made up of officers from Southfield, Auburn Hills, and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. Michigan State Police and Rochester are expected to join soon.