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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Statewide human trafficking stings by multiple law enforcement agencies over the weekend found exploited teenagers across the state and saw 56 people across Ohio arrested.

The FOX 8 I-Team first reported on 3 Cleveland massage parlors arrested for sex trafficking on Sunday.

Operation Time’s Up is an annual crackdown.

Agents in Operation Time’s Up use a hidden camera in a hotel room to record someone trying to buy sex. (Courtesy Photo/Attorney General Dave Yost)

Agents with the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force handled a sting operation at a hotel in Columbus, according to local police. The agents had looked through websites showing illegal escort advertisements and found one containing pictures of an underage girl.

The agents figured out that the escort was an exploited 16-year-old girl from the Toledo area, and rescued her, the Columbus Division of Police said. They found another 19-year-old escort from Toledo during this process as well and referred them to victim services.

Yost said that members of the task force arrested two men as a result of the escort rescue.

“These two fellas brought these underage children all the way from Toledo down to Columbus with the intent of trafficking them, answering this ad,” Yost said. “So they’ve been charged with first-degree felony human trafficking and they’re looking at very serious charges, and rightly so.”

Agents handle arrest paperwork for a man suspected of trying to buy sex at a hotel. (Courtesy Photo/Attorney General Dave Yost)

Out of all of the arrests over the weekend, 21 of them were in connection with felony charges including attempted sexual conduct with a minor. Many of the other 35 people arrested face charges of engaging in prostitution, according to Yost. If convicted, they will have to go through “john school,” or human trafficking education.

Yost also mentioned that as officers found men and women offering to sell sex, they interviewed them and offered medical and social services from nonprofits, to try and “pull victims out of the trafficking trap.” Tips from these interviews can also help law enforcement with future stings, as they can identify traffickers that investigators can follow up on and get indictments.

  • Agents in Operation Time’s Up arrest someone suspected of trying to buy sex. (Courtesy Photo/Attorney General Dave Yost)
  • (Courtesy Photo/Attorney General Dave Yost)

Neither Yost nor CPD released the names of any of the people arrested during Operation Time’s Up.