(LISBON, Ohio) — Two men from northeast Ohio, including a criminal defense lawyer, are facing charges following a sex sting by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, Attorney General Dave Yost announced today.
Kenneth Martin, 72, of Macedonia, has been charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. On his law firm’s website, Martin lists prostitution and solicitation cases among his legal defense specialties.
“It’s sometimes the people you’d least expect who drive the demand for human trafficking,” Yost said. “A lawyer should know better – don’t buy sex in Ohio.”
On Feb. 22, Martin allegedly agreed to pay $180 for sex after responding to an advertisement posted by undercover agents to a website associated with human trafficking. He later arrived at an agreed-upon location, allegedly with money in hand.
The day before, the task force charged 31-year-old Coty Salman, of Youngstown, with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. He, too, allegedly responded to a fictitious online ad and agreed to pay $140 for sex before traveling to a meeting location, where task force agents were waiting.
Both men received summonses to answer for the charges in Columbiana County Municipal Court.
The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, part of the attorney general’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, is led by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office. The task force consists of representatives from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, East Palestine Police Department, Austintown Police Department, Youngstown Police Department, Warren Police Department, Adult Parole Authority and Ohio Investigative Unit. The Salem Police Department assisted the task force with the sting.
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