Lake County’s Human Trafficking Task Force has received additional federal funding to continue the task force’s work in investigating and prosecuting human traffickers and providing services to survivors.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded the Lake County Human Trafficking Task Force an additional $700,000 in grant funding last month as a renewal of a prior grant.
The funding will be allocated over the next three years to strengthen the task force’s work in investigating and prosecuting human traffickers, as well as providing services to the survivors of labor and sex trafficking.
Co-led by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and A Safe Place, the task force is a collaborative effort between prosecutors, police and community-based social service providers to support survivors, increase community awareness and hold traffickers criminally responsible through prosecution.
The state’s attorney’s office said the grant funds are used for a prosecutor, an investigator and a task force coordinator.
“The Department of Justice and its subject-matter experts recognize the work we are doing in Lake County, and our office greatly appreciates their confidence as shown by this renewal,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
Officials said that A Safe Place identified dozens of survivors of human trafficking prior to the formation of the Task Force in 2022 but there were no active investigations or charged cases in Lake County in 2020 or 2021.
The task force is currently investigating over 20 cases and there are five pending cases against defendants in Lake County court, the state’s attorney’s office said.
“The data shows that trafficking is a vastly under-reported crime, and that it is one of the reasons why it so dangerous. Such exploitation of the individual is one of the most damaging and calculated crimes in our system,” Rinehart said.
“These renewed grant funds give us the resources we need to conduct these intensive investigations and to build prosecutions in complex cases. Make no mistake, traffickers in Lake County will be investigated and incarcerated for these crimes that exploit others,” Rinehart added.
Chief Executive Officer of A Safe Place Pat Davenport said his organization continues to experience the needs of survivors that come through its doors and the collaboration with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office is “critical to our delivery of our services.”
“Without them, the funding would not have become a reality which is so much needed to provide services,” Davenport said.