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Public School Teacher Among 10 Men Arrested In Ohio Human Trafficking Bust, Police Say

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Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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An Ohio public middle school teacher was among 10 men arrested during a human trafficking bust in April, numerous sources reported.

David Delong, 60, was charged with engaging in prostitution, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Wednesday. Nine other men, ranging from the ages of 22 to 62, were also arrested on the same charges.

Delong is a health and physical education teacher at a middle school in the Massillon City Schools district, located roughly 10 miles west of Canton, Summit County Sheriff Bill Holland said, according to WOIO. 

Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the sting, which took place in a single day and led to the arrests of eight men from Ohio, and two men from Pennsylvania and North Carolina, respectively, according to the sheriff’s office statement. The suspects allegedly answered an online advertisement offering “explicit sexual services in exchange for a cash payment.”

Several human trafficking victims were identified in the bust and were offered help by resources within the Summit County Human Trafficking Task Force.                                   

The district’s superintendent, Paul Salvino, said the sheriff’s office informed him of Delong’s arrest April 26, and Delong was placed on administrative leave effective that day, according to Fox 8.

“I communicated to the Summit County Sheriff’s department that the Massillon City Schools will cooperate and assist with any information needed,” Salvino said in the statement, according to Fox 8. “I have been assured by the authorities that this arrest was not related to any juvenile/student(s).”

Ohio officials have led numerous human trafficking busts as part of Attorney General Dave Yost’s human trafficking initiative, which has the goal “of ending labor and sex trafficking in Ohio,” Yost’s website says. 

One of the largest Ohio human trafficking busts took place in October, when 109 victims were rescued and more than 157 men were arrested in Operation Autumn Hope. Some of the charges issued in the operation were connected to seeking sex with a minor. (RELATED: ‘Don’t Buy Sex In Ohio’: State Attorney General David Yost Announces 109 Human Trafficking Victims Rescued In Statewide Operation)

Nearly a year earlier, more than 100 people were arrested in a massive human trafficking operation involving more than 30 law enforcement agencies.