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COLUMBUS — In an attempt to combat Ohio’s — and especially Toledo’s — reputation as a hub for enslavement of people for the sex trade, state lawmakers have sent the governor a long-awaited bill to increase criminal penalties for related crimes.

Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to sign the measure into law this week.

While not going as far as victims’ advocates want, the measure sets the stage for what they see as the next step — an in-depth study to propose changes in state law.

“We were targeted in the nation as being the number one city recruiting underage girls two years in a row by the FBI,’’ said state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), who has tried for more than two years to change Ohio criminal law to better battle human traffickers.

OHIO’S HUMAN-TRAFFICKING LEGISLATION

• Defines “human trafficking” as the commission of at least two felony offenses as part of a scheme to force a victim into prostitution or pornography.

• Creates a human-trafficking specification that prosecutors can apply to related crimes to automatically increase penalties much the way a gun specification works with violent crimes.

• Elevates the crime of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, normally a second-degree felony punishable by two to eight years behind bars, to a first-degree felony, punishable by three to 10 years, when a human-traffi cking specification is attached.

• Mandates prison time for related offenses like kidnapping, compelling or promoting prostitution, illegally using a minor in pornography, and endangering children when a human-trafficking specification is attached.

• Mandates that offenders pay restitution to victims for such things as housing, counseling, and medical and legal assistance.

• “Strongly encourages’’ the attorney general to create a trafficking-in-persons study commission to examine the problem and report back to the governor and legislative leaders with recommendations for changes in Ohio law.

She took up the cause after a Blade investigation highlighting Toledo’s proximity to highways and other Great Lakes cities that has made it a recruitment hub for the underage sex trade.

A federal investigation into a child prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Pa., turned the spotlight on Toledo in 2005. Nine local girls had been sold as sex slaves as part of the ring, and at least 12 of the 31 people charged had ties to Toledo.

The issue also had been championed by the Cincinnati-based National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which presented modern human trafficking as history repeating itself right under Americans’ noses.

There are about 12 million sex slaves worldwide, including an estimated 300,000 U.S. children, the center said.

“This concept is very hard to understand in these modern times,” Ms. Fedor said. “This form of modern-day slavery is not as visible as our experiences in the past.”

Compromise human-trafficking language was slipped into House Bill 280 and sent to the governor’s desk shortly before lawmakers brought its two-year session to a close last month. Unlike Ms. Fedor’s original proposal, the measure would not create a crime of “trafficking in persons” in Ohio.

But, much like crimes committed with a gun, the bill would create a new specification of “human trafficking” that prosecutors could attach to related crimes to increase penalties.

For example, the crime of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, normally a second-degree felony punishable by two to eight years behind bars, would be elevated to a first-degree felony, punishable by three to 10 years, when a human-trafficking specification is attached.

The attachment of the specification also would mandate jail time for convictions on related offenses such as kidnapping, compelling or promoting prostitution, illegally using a minor in pornography, and endangering children.

“That’s a huge step forward,” Ms. Fedor said. “That means we are able to focus on the concept and issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.”

Despite the fact both Democrats and Republicans had introduced bills on the subject, the measure faced an uphill battle with prosecutors who argued that the elements that make up human trafficking already are illegal under Ohio law.

“We don’t get many human-trafficking cases,” said John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. “Witnesses, mostly victims, are in most cases pretty frightened and don’t have the resources available to get away. If they can get away from their captors, they don’t want to get involved in the criminal justice system. They’re frightened about what might happen if they do,” Mr. Murphy said.

Increasing penalties for offenders doesn’t get to the problem of having testimony that can lead to convictions, he said.

Ms. Fedor said she hopes the special study commission that the bill requests through the attorney general’s office will help to address some of those issues. The bill does not mandate the study nor does it appropriate funds to pay for it.

But Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray, who will become the new attorney general this week, has agreed to tackle the task.

“He did speak with [current] Attorney General Nancy Rogers about the human-trafficking issue,” Cordray spokesman Holly Hollingsworth said. “He believes it is a significant problem, and he and Attorney General Rogers both strongly favor establishment of this commission.’’

The human-trafficking language was slipped into a much broader bill to increase penalties for domestic violence committed against pregnant women and to mandate that abortion clinics post signs informing patients that they cannot be coerced into undergoing the procedure.

Ms. Fedor said she’s disappointed the compromise bill on Mr. Strickland’s design deals only with human trafficking as it applies to the sex trade. The bill specifically defines “human trafficking” as the commission of at least two felony offenses designed to force a victim into prostitution or pornography.

This, for instance, ignores similar activity involving such things as coerced immigrant labor.

“I’m not going to wait until the commission comes out with a report,” Ms. Fedor said. “We will take a look at introducing a new bill and to hold necessary hearings to move forward.’’

Contact Jim Provance at:jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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