Trenton, New Jersey — New Jersey authorities busted two human trafficking networks, including one that forced minors as young as 13 to have sex with adults for money, the state’s top criminal enforcement official said Tuesday.
Attorney General Matt Platkin announced that seven people have been charged in connection with the operations. The indictments filed in state superior court include graphic allegations about children and others being coerced into sexual interactions in Essex County, which encompasses Newark, and Cumberland County, in the state’s south.
“There is no tolerance for exploitation of anyone, particularly in this dehumanizing manner,” Platkin said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Khailah Meekins, 21, and Donte Barkley, 28, both of Newark, trafficked juveniles between December and April. Platkin stated that the couple arranged for two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old to have sexual relations via a smartphone app after ads featuring the minors appeared online. According to the attorney general, the victims were subsequently brought to hotels and short-term rentals where they were sexually assaulted for money.
Barkley’s attorney, Douglas Mitchell, stated that his client maintains his innocence and would fight the allegations. Meekins’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the Newark case, an Irvington man, 24, was charged on assault counts in August. Platkin’s office claims the man paid for sex with one of the children.
In Cumberland County, Usiel Luna, 42, of Bridgeton, along with Jose Perez-Lopez, 40, Rosendo Vazquez-Hernandez, 35, and Yerson Puentes-Marquez, 28, all of Bridgeton, recruited persons to work as dancers who were subsequently “offered for commercial sex,” the attorney general stated. From March 2022 to September, the victims were brought to a residence in Bridgeton, instructed not to leave, and forced to have sex with “hundreds” of men each week, according to the indictment.
Attorneys for Luna, Perez-Lopez, and Vazquez-Hernandez did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Tuesday.
The arrests come two years after the attorney general’s office established a team to combat human trafficking, according to Platkin.
