7 people indicted in two separate human trafficking rings across New Jersey

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office says seven men and women have been charged in two separate human trafficking rings in northern and southern New Jersey, one of which involved children.

Attorney General Matt Platkin announced that the two human trafficking rings have been dismantled – one in Cumberland County with defendants from Bridgeton and a second in Essex County with defendants from Newark and Irvington.

“I think it’s important to highlight the places here because we know that human trafficking knows no borders and in fact operates both in our state and in this country and even around the world,” Platkin said.

The ring, based in Cumberland County, picked up new victims weekly from Paterson and Queens, New York, according to the indictment.

“Women were recruited under the false pretense that they would work as dancers, but instead they were taken to a house in Bridgeton where they were offered for commercial sex,” Platkin said.

In the Essex County-based ring, a suspected sex trafficker forced two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old to perform sexual acts.

“The defendants allegedly arranged for victims to engage in sexual acts using smartphone apps and posting online advertisements, including nude photos of the minors,” Platkin said.

In the Bridgeton case, the state grand jury indicted Usiel Luna and his alleged co-conspirators – Jose Perez-Lopez, Rosendo Vazquez-Hernandez and Yerson Puentes-Marquez. All are from Bridgeton.

In the Essex County case, the state grand jury indicted Khailah Meekins and her alleged co-conspirator Donte Barkley, both of Newark. A third suspect, Richard Johnson of Irvington, was indicted this summer on similar charges, including aggravated sexual assault, after he allegedly paid one of the minors to engage in sexual activity with him.

In both cases, the defendants face 20 to life in prison for a first-degree felony count of human trafficking.