Illegal sex work and human trafficking are on the rise, even as police are cracking down and arrests are skyrocketing, experts say

Human trafficking doesn't often start out with a white van prowling behind a pedestrian, or look like a scene out of the Liam Neeson movie franchise, "Taken."

Much more commonly, the crime that has continued to spike on Long Island begins with enticement, experts told community members gathered Tuesday evening at Huntington Town Hall for a forum on human trafficking.

"It all starts with some kind of lie — promise of friendship, romance, some kind of job offer," panelist Santhosh Paulus, senior program director for Northwell Health’s human trafficking program, said. " ... There’s promises of a brighter future."

Paulus was among the presenters — medical experts, law enforcement representatives and survivor advocates — whom Huntington Town Councilwoman Theresa Mari invited to the forum to update the community on efforts to stem the rise of illegal sex work and human trafficking in the region. Many in the audience wondered what lawmakers and police could do to solve the pervasive issue and how the community could potentially help.

Each year for the past three years, the Huntington Town Board has voted to increase fines for spas and other storefronts allowing prostitution on site, Newsday has reported. Yet the problem, like elsewhere on Long Island, has persisted. More than 40 arrests for prostitution or illegal massages at salons, spas and other establishments have occurred since 2024 in Huntington. Such arrests across the Island have increased more than 1,200% in the past five years according to a Newsday investigation of sex trafficking in the region.

Medical workers are among those confronting the issue, Paulus said during the forum Tuesday evening. More than 80% of victims of human trafficking seek medical care, but are "missed cases" by physicians and nurses, he said, citing a 2014 study on trafficking. To determine if someone is a victim, physicians ask seemingly unrelated questions such as whether the person has eaten recently and has a safe place to stay. Medical staff also look for red flags, such as a patient’s reluctance to discuss a tattoo that was possibly forced on them as a brand.

Medical staff must also be careful that a trafficker is not listening surreptitiously to their private conversations with potential victims.

The same goes for police officers, advocates and even ordinary citizens looking to help, Mari said. As the Huntington councilmember put it: "You have to be careful."

"If you think someone is being trafficked, you can't just walk up to them and say 'Are you in trouble?' " she said. "You can put them in more danger."

Tuesday evening's presenters included Feride Castillo and Laura Mullen, co-founders of the Islandia-based survivor nonprofit ECLI-VIBES; Det. Sgt. James Johnson of the Suffolk County Police Department Human Trafficking Investigations Unit; Investigative Sgt. Erin Meunkle of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative; and Wilonda Green, director for Northwell Health’s H.E.A.R.T. program, which stands for Human Trafficking, Education, Advocacy, Response and Training.

Last month, a panel discussion in Hicksville included detectives with the Nassau County Police Department who investigate trafficking and illegal sex work, an official from the Oyster Bay planning department, and a Newsday journalist who has been covering the issue.

The event took place next door to an establishment Newsday has pre viously reported was an alleged hub for illegal sex work.

Sex for a price is available at massage parlors and foot spas by the hundreds across Long Island, the Newsday investigation reported. The demand, the story continued, is fueling a booming illegal industry, even as police are cracking down and arrests are skyrocketing. Many shuttered spas are reopening within hours in an enforcement game of whack-a-mole.

Newsday also found Long Island has become among New York's most active areas in a roughly $500 million-a-year industry in the state. In a July story, Newsday reported police and town officials raided at least 231 spas in Nassau and Suffolk counties over the last five years. At least 85 have been raided more than once.