Uriah Hannah was convicted of trying to lure teenage girls into prostitution.
The Egg Harbor City girls were saved, but the case proved a turning point for Atlantic County Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Buckley, who learned a lot about the world of prostitution — and how those being sold for money are often victims.
Buckley and the five-member Child Safety Task Force were honored by the Atlantic County Women's Center on Thursday for their work fighting human trafficking.
"Human trafficking often manifests itself as something else," Buckley explained.
Domestic violence, robbery, gun charges, drugs can often be just the surface of the true problem.
"It just isn't recognized for what it is," she said. "People think the women make a conscious choice, but it often comes about because of lack of choices."
Buckley, for her part, successfully worked toward the first two prostitution expungements in the state, after a statute allowing victims to clear their records of crimes they were basically victims of as well.
Newly appointed Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner oversaw the second one as a Superior Court judge.
He first saw the effects as a judge in the Family Court, where the sex trade connected to certain cases involving everything from domestic restraining orders to Child Protection and Permanency cases.
"People don't really understand the depth of the problem," he said. "Our society often glamorizes prostitution."
But the reality isn't Richard Gere "rescuing" Julia Roberts or Jennifer Love Hewitt being in charge of "The Client List." Instead, it's often young girls and even adult women coerced through physical force, threats or drug addiction to make money for their pimps.
"They don't see the violence that exists," Tyner said of mainstream society. "It's women are essentially being held hostage."
While most don't see it, Detective Jennifer Cugini does.
As the only woman in the five-member task force, she gets a firsthand view. She also seen the changes in investigators from other
Now, they understand that their cases could have underlying links to the issue she often deals with.
It's not just a drug case or a weapons case, now there's the question of: "What was (that woman) doing in the house?"
Unlike a drug that can be sold just once, sex workers are a product that can be sold over and over again, multiple times a night, Buckley said.
And that income is what keeps human-trafficking going, and what now worries those fighting it.
The new bail reform requires evidence be turned over quickly to the defense, opening the paperwork so that the accused trafficker will at least know the initials of the person who turned on them. And, the move toward release with conditions over bail means the men will likely get out.
These women already are often scared and fully dependent on their trafficker. Now, the help needs to be quick, "or they're not going to talk to us at all," Cugini said.
Tyner is hoping to increase education about the crime.
He says he already has a good start with Buckley and the task force, which has gone out into Atlantic City and other towns to educate hotel and motel workers on what to look for as clues that a girl or woman is being trafficked. And "Operation Red Flag" lets those in the hospitality industry know the signs as well.
It's not just happening in Atlantic County, Tyner says.
"It's happening in all 21 counties," he said. "Folks would be naive to think it's not happening (where they live). But if we can take the lead, we will."
