The Ohio Attorney General reported that A criminal defense attorney who specializes in prostitution cases was arrested trying to hire a sex worker.
“A lawyer should know better: Don’t buy sex in Ohio,” Republican Ohio State Attorney Dave Yost said last week in a Press release.
Yost reported that the arrest took place during an undercover operation by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force late last month.
During the operation, two men were arrested, including criminal defense attorney Kenneth Martin, 72, who responded to a prostitution ad posted on a website known for human trafficking and agreed to pay someone he thought was a sex worker $180 for her services.
Martin traveled to a location where he had allegedly agreed to meet the woman, allegedly with the money in hand, but was met by law enforcement officers posing as sex workers.
The attorney “lists prostitution and solicitation cases among his legal defense specialties” on his website, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“Sometimes it is the people you would least expect who are driving the demand for human trafficking,” Yost added in his Press release last week.
Martin received a summons to appear in court and He was charged with prostitution and possession of criminal tools on February 22.local media reported.
Another man, identified as Coty Salman, 31, of Youngstown, was also charged during the sting operation. Salman also responded to what he thought was an online prostitution ad and agreed to pay $140 for sexual services.
Since taking office in 2019, Yost has made combating human trafficking a top priority, according to his office, and launched the Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative, which focuses on ending trafficking by arresting traffickers and “clients”.
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