The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, along with LifeChoices and the RISE Coalition, shuts down part of a human trafficking operation.

 The operation took place last Friday. Jasper County and Joplin Police detectives contacted four people who were offering prostitution services at a hotel in Jasper County. During the investigation, one person was arrested on warrants out of multiple jurisdictions, and one was arrested for prostitution. Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser says the goal of the operation was to identify potential victims of human trafficking and connect them with appropriate services and the way to get away from traffickers.

 Kaiser says the secondary goal was to locate human traffickers and arrest them. He says the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office takes their role in stopping human trafficking seriously and will continue to work with agencies and local victim advocate groups to identify victims and traffickers, as well as the customers of these victims.