A special presentation on Human Trafficking will be given before the regular monthly meeting of Related Services.
The presentation by Nanette Ward, Ashland, will be given during the meeting from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at the Moniteau County Health Department on 401 South Francis Street.
Ward represents the Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition (CMSHTC).
According to information from the Polaris Project, Human Trafficking involves numbers estimated at hundred of thousands in the United States and nearly 30 million worldwide. The victims of Human Trafficking may fall in the categories of either sex trafficking or labor trafficking. Either way, they are unwilling participants due to force, fraud or coercion.
Victims have been found in every state. A man from Springfield was recently convicted in Federal Court and sentenced to five years in prison without parole. In March, a woman from Kansas City and a man from Columbia were indicted on Federal charges of Human Trafficking.
For more information about the meeting, phone 573-796-3412. For more information on Human trafficking or to report a suspected Human Trafficking case, phone the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or check the website www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking or www.polaris project.org.