Super Bowl Sex Trafficking Sting Snags More Than 100 Arrests in Lake, Cook Counties

LAKE COUNTY, IL -- The annual Super Bowl sex trafficking sting netted a super number of arrests -- 752 -- including 723 sex buyers (“johns”) and 29 pimps or sex traffickers. The operation involved nearly 30 law enforcement agencies around the country, including Lake and Cook Counties.

Now in its 13th operation, the National Johns Suppression Initiative ran from Jan. 18 to Feb. 5, which included Super Bowl Sunday. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that it was the highest number of arrests and participation to date since Super Bowl operation began.

The NJSI operations were launched in 2011 by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart to heighten awareness of the "tragic and exploitive nature of the sex trafficking industry.” The combined efforts of Cook County Sheriff’s Police and participating agencies from across the country have arrested more than 6,500 sex buyers and traffickers since the initiative began.

In Lake County, sheriff’s office deputies arrested two sex buyers. Meanwhile, Cook County Sheriff's Office arrested 101 sex buyers and recovered three adult victims during the operation. The data also includes:

• Lansing Police Department (6 sex buyers arrests)
• Matteson Police Department (11 sex buyers arrested)
• Arlington Heights Police Department (5 sex buyers)

Cumulative numbers from the nationwide Super Bowl johns operation included:

• 29 sex trafficking arrests
• 723 sex solicitation arrests (sex buyers)
• $1,118,557 in minimum possible fines
• 86 adult victims recovered
• 6 juveniles rescued

The number of arrests is subject to change based on additional law enforcement agencies reporting. Some of the sex buyers arrested around the country included a high school principal, college professor and firefighter.

Another sex buyer had his 4-year-old son with him when he was arrested.

A report produced by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, “Buyers and Sellers: A Window into Sex Trafficking,” further illustrates the exploitation associated with sex trafficking industry. It includes anonymous arrest data of sex buyers collected in NJSI operations and interviews with victims over the course of four years.

According to the report’s data, sex buyers are more often Caucasian, at least high school educated, and in many cases, college educated, middle-aged-or-older men. Many are married and very few are unemployed.

Written by Lorraine Swanson