LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office says a recently launched initiative to close businesses that may enable human trafficking is already making stark progress.

January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and on Wednesday, Attorney General Daniel Cameron held a news conference about the progress of the H.O.P.E. (Human Trafficking Outreach Prevention and Education) Initiative.

The initiative launched in October to mobilize landlords to close illicit massage businesses that may enable human trafficking, said Cameron. 

“Our office has authored over a dozen letters to landlords notifying them of the potential trafficking occurring on their property,” he said. “67% of these landlords, as a result of these letters, have terminated or declined to renew leases with these alleged illicit businesses.” 

According to a presentation shared by Cameron’s office, signs of illicit massage businesses include permits that don’t match the businesses’ activity, a mostly male clientele, prices below market and guarded entrances.

The project has launched in Bullitt, Fayette, Laurel and Hardin counties.

“At the outset of this initiative, we identified 12 suspected illicit massage businesses,” said Heather Wagers, with the AG’s Office of Trafficking and Abuse Prevention and Prosecution. “As a result of local law enforcement’s efforts, two of the businesses shuttered before we could even send letters to them, four landlords evicted their tenant, while two landlords were at the end of their rental period and declined to renew the lease.” 

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888.