October 2, 2020 – Sheboygan Co., WI – On Thursday, October 1, 2020, the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office, while working closely with DCI (WI Division of Criminal Investigations), Plymouth Police Department, Sheboygan Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Sheboygan County District Attorney’s Office, conducted an undercover operation targeting Human Trafficking as it relates to Prostitution and Solicitation of Prostitution.
During this operation five individuals were arrested for a variety of charges.
The human trafficking charges filed as a result were:
944.30(1m)(a) – Prostitution – Soliciting
2 counts – 944.31 – Patronizing Prostitutes
2 counts – 948.12(1m) – Possession of Child Pornography
944.30(1m)(a) – Prostitution
946.41(1) – Resisting or Obstructing an Officer
961.41(3g)(c) – Possession of Cocaine
943.23(1g) – Operate vehicle without owner’s consent
Common Sense Citizens of Washington County addressed the issue of human trafficking at its meeting this week held at the VFW on Park Avenue. Guest speakers included Deacon Steve Przedpelski, Director of Franciscan Peacemakers, Wendy Smith, Co-founder of Washington County Anti-Trafficking Advocates, and retired Detective Tamara Remington.
Subjects were identified by investigators using popular publicly available online websites that have been specifically generated for the purpose of connecting individuals for the purpose of arranging sexual encounters in exchange for money.
We conduct operations such as this to attempt to combat human sex trafficking in and around our community. During these operations we connect community resources to the prostitutes who are at higher risk of human trafficking, domestic violence, physical assaults, among many other life changing and degrading outcomes.
As evidenced by the partnerships involved in this operation, Human Sex Trafficking at any level will not be tolerated by our law enforcement agencies in Sheboygan County.