Lancaster County DA on stopping human trafficking

• Scott LaMar/WITF
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  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

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Airdate: Thursday, April 7, 2022

Human trafficking is something that happens everywhere – even here in central Pennsylvania.

In 2020, there were more than 10 thousand situations of human trafficking identified across the country with almost 17 thousand victims of trafficking identified. These are numbers from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. There certainly are more.

Most who were trafficked were for sex.

The year 2020 was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many places were closed, but recruiting for trafficking increased 120 percent on Facebook.

The Lancaster County District Attorney’s office formed a County Human Trafficking Task Force earlier this year.

Last month it resulted in 14 arrests of men who answered an online advertisement and thought they would be paying for sex with prostitutes. It was a sting operation.

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams is on Thursday’s Smart Talk to discuss the task force and trafficking.

The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections. 

Read the stories here