Conference Organizers Say Kentucky Vulnerable To Human Trafficking

Kentucky may seem like an unlikely breeding ground for human traffickers, but the problem is growing nationally and one area college is hoping a conference will shine a light on the issue.

Jury selection began Thursday in the trial of Anthony and Kathy Hart, a Madison County couple accused of trafficking their young daughters in Richmond, KY. It’s cases like these that Regan Lookadoo, organizer of a conference on human trafficking at Georgetown College, hopes will show Kentuckians it’s not just a problem overseas.

"For our state, we're vulnerable because we're a poor state. We have poverty issues of neglect," says Lookadoo.

Combine those  problems with a high level of prescription drug abuse and Lookadoo says that’s a recipe for more incidences of human trafficking down the road. The state legislature passed a law in 2007 outlawing human trafficking. So far 67 cases have been documented, 12 people have been indicted, but only a handful have been convicted. The conference on human trafficking at Georgetown College begins today and is free to any student or teacher.