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All of the stories surrounding the allegations surrounding Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

Man Sentenced For Attempted Human Trafficking in Utah

This week, the Utah Attorney General’s Office announced the sentencing of a man who attempted to recruit a 15-year-old girl to work in a commercial sex operation. This comes in the wake of a series of investigations and arrests into human trafficking and Internet crimes against children.

According to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Charles Daryl Kelley was involved in a commercial sex operation at a motel in Midvale when he approached a girl in a parking lot and asked if she wanted to “make some money.” Kelley has been sentenced to serve one year in custody and three years of supervised probation for attempted human trafficking, a 2nd degree felony. Assistant Attorney General Daniel Strong prosecuted the case. He says catching people in these crimes requires awareness from everyone.

“This case came in from an employee at a motel who had been trained to identify signs of trafficking and even just prostitution, who was alert enough to notice those signs and report it to the police,” Strong says. “So that’s an example of how public education can lead to more of these cases being found and prosecuted.”

Strong says his office is committed to addressing and prosecuting sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking in all its forms. “You know statewide and I think also nationwide, there’s a lot more attention being thrown at this issue, and I think the more light we shine in these dark corners, the more human trafficking cases we’ll find.”

Over the past few months, The SECURE Strike Force in Utah has been investigating 11 human trafficking cases. In addition, there were over 70 arrests as part of an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force operation since April.

Andrea Smardon is new at KUER, but she has worked in public broadcasting for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and news announcer for WGBH radio. While in Boston, she produced stories for Morning Edition, Marketplace Money, and The World. Her print work was published in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. Prior to that, she worked at Seattleââ
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