Seven Indicted in NJ Human Trafficking Cases

Seven individuals have been indicted for their roles in two separate human trafficking rings in New Jersey, involving both teenage and adult victims. In Essex County, Khailah Meekins, Donte Barkley, and Richard Johnson were charged with trafficking two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old, using smartphone apps to arrange sexual encounters and subjecting the victims to physical abuse. In Cumberland County, Usiel Luna and his three co-conspirators operated a brothel, trafficking women under the guise of recruiting them as dancers. These women were brought from Paterson and Queens, NY, and forced into sex work. The indictments were part of a broader effort by New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice to combat human trafficking across the state. Attorney General Matthew Platkin emphasized the state's commitment to ending human trafficking and praised the collaborative investigative efforts that led to these indictments.