Local law enforcement: Incidents underreported, so scope not fully quantified

Yahoo

2 days ago

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 12 likely victims of human trafficking in Cambria County from 2015-22. There were three in Somerset County.
A few legal cases have taken place.
In 2017, Barshay Dunbar, of Johnstown, was convicted on charges stemming from operating a sex ring using Backpage.com, out of the Super 8 hotel in Richland Township, in which he paid the women with drugs. The case developed when a hotel general manager notified police of suspicious activities.
Barshay Reqwan Dunbar
Barshay Reqwan Dunbar
William Warren was arrested in 2022 and later pleaded guilty to trafficking and other charges. Law enforcement began an investigation after responding to an overdose at his residence, next to the Stonycreek Township Police Department, in which the woman later died.
Then, a few weeks ago, a Johnstown man was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly providing a teenage runaway with drugs and using her for sexual favors in exchange for a place to stay.
Those were all occurrences or allegations of sexual human trafficking.
Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer said he has not seen cases of labor human trafficking because, 'We don't really have a lot of migrant workers that come through here.'
Without elaborating, Neugebauer said, 'Frankly, we're actively investigating several cases right now.'
Those might not seem like a statistically significant number of incidents. But law enforcement officers, legislators, counselors and advocates agree that human trafficking crimes are extremely underreported.
'With human trafficking, 1,000%, those numbers lack reporting, especially in our area,' said Victim Services' Jessica Piro, the Cambria County Human Trafficking Response Team's co-coordinator.
Johnstown Police Department | Chief Mark Britton
Johnstown Police Department Chief Mark Britton shown here outside the Public Safety Building on Washington Street in downtown Johnstown on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
Johnstown Police Department Chief Mark Britton compared the lack of reporting to the silence that often accompanies other crimes of violence and exploitation.
'It's just like somebody who has been raped,' Britton said. 'You know they've been raped. You know they've been abused. But they don't want to come forward because of the embarrassment, or because they have become so used to the abuse that they encounter – not so much maybe physical abuse, but the mental abuse and the emotional abuse – they don't want to come forward because they're so aligned with that type of behavior that they don't know any other behavior. They don't know how they're going to survive.'
'Definitely happening'
About a decade ago, Kelly Callihan attended a Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association conference in Philadelphia during which there was a presentation about human trafficking.
'I just remember thinking, 'Human trafficking, I'm going to half-pay attention. That doesn't apply here,' ' said Callihan, who was Cambria County's district attorney at the time. 'Then once we heard the presentation, I was like, 'Wow, this is definitely happening then in our area.' '
Callihan's experience inspired her to help form the Cambria County Human Trafficking Response Team in 2016, in collaboration with other individuals and organizations, including Victim Services Inc.
Kelly Callihan
Kelly Callihan
The trafficking response group is connected to the Cambria County Sexual Assault Response Team.
Members come from victim services groups, law enforcement agencies and health care providers. The organization works to raise awareness about the issue, develop practices for law enforcement, train people such as medical professionals and hotel workers on how to recognize the signs of human trafficking, and assist survivors.
Even with the team carrying out its mission, it is still a challenge to define the scope of how much human trafficking occurs locally.
'It's one of those things that I don't think, necessarily, the amount of cases that are being filed is indicative of what the actual problem is,' said Callihan, who is now the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association's executive director.
'Kind of like a hub'
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 99, U.S. Route 219, U.S. Route 22, other highways and rails carrying Amtrak trains pass through the local region – providing ways for human traffickers to move among major metropolitan areas, such as New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Buffalo.
'What we're primarily seeing is that it's kind of like a hub,' Piro said. 'We are in the middle of several key cities, and we're also on what is like a trafficking beltway from D.C. to Ohio.'
Greg Neugebauer | Announces Candidacy For Judge
Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer answers questions from the media after announcing his candidacy for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas during a press conference at the Young Peoples Community Center in Ebensburg on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Neugebauer recalled one case from a few years ago 'that will always stick out in my mind' involving a person being trafficked through the region.
'Essentially, the victim met this individual at a bar in another state,' Neugebauer said. 'They started hanging out, and before she knew it, she was being basically driven across the country and being severely physically abused.
'They stopped at a local store to get gas and some snacks and the perpetrator basically left her alone for a minute. And she essentially ran out of the car. A store employee saw her, saw that she had what appeared to be fresh physical injuries. That kicked off an investigation that led to us looking at things in other states and all kinds of stuff.'
Neugebauer said he does not believe the people had any local connections other than they were passing through the area. The victim later died from underlying health issues, according to Neugebauer.