COLUMBUS – Columbus police say a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking was found in a Detroit-area hotel almost two weeks after she was reported missing.
She has been reunited with her family and is receiving assistance while charges are pending against a 30-year-old Texas man identified in connection with the case, Columbus Division of Police spokesman Sgt. James Fuqua said.
The girl was reported missing by her grandmother on Nov. 9 and, despite receiving multiple tips regarding a 14-year-old Columbus female who was possibly being human trafficked, there were no breakthroughs in the case until Columbus Missing Persons Unit detective Charles Radich received information that the teen was in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Mich., Fuqua said.
Radich notified the Southfield Police Department and the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force to obtain assistance and, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Detroit Human Trafficking Task Force, officers were able to locate the missing teen at a Southfield area hotel on Nov. 22, Fuqua said.
Hundreds of sex advertisements for the missing girl were also found posted on illicit websites, Fuqua said.