![\"Berks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/REG-L-3MurderPresserVictims.jpg\")
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\nBerks County District Attorney John T. Adams says aggressive work by law enforcement is the reason the county had the second highest percentage in the state for human-trafficking charges filed from 2020 to 2024.<\/p>\n
Berks had about 12% of the total human-trafficking charges filed during that period, according to data released by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.<\/p>\n
During the five-year period, Berks had 167 human-trafficking charges, or 11.66% of the 1,432 offenses filed in 431 cases statewide, according to the data.<\/p>\n
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
\u201cOur numbers are higher because we\u2019re really concentrating our investigative and prosecutorial efforts on this problem,\u201d Adams said. \u201cIt\u2019s all because we have a very robust human trafficking task force.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task force, under the direction of the DA\u2019s office, is made up of 15 to 20 detectives, including investigators from municipal police departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to get the message out about the problems of human trafficking,\u201d Adams said. My detectives and municipal partners have set up a number of details every year to identify, arrest and prosecute individuals who are involved in sex trade and sex trafficking, which is now defined as human trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams singled out police in Amity and Spring townships and Wyomissing for their focus on these cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are blessed that we have not only the resources here in our county but we have some municipal police departments who have really taken this problem very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear many of these municipal police departments are very aware that human trafficking is in their neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
When human trafficking is suspected, he said, the task force will set up details \u2014 commonly referred to as stings \u2014 as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Those involved in human trafficking often make use of hotels in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve identified the hotels,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThey have been pretty cooperative with us. If they\u2019re not, we put the pressure on them because it\u2019s a serious problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams said task force members have taken advantage of training opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a crime that is disguised,\u201d he said. \u201cThe individuals who are members of our task force have been well trained in identifying individuals who they believe may be involved in trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams credited Zoe International, a group dedicated to fighting human trafficking, for its role as an important community partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have been a great partner in the educational part and a great teammate in identifying this problem and educating all the detectives who are members of the human trafficking task force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Adams said the circumstances in some cases are mind-boggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the general public needs to realize that this type of nefarious behavior is not good for our local economy,\u201d he said. The fact that our police departments and this office are taking this seriously is good for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the region<\/p>\n
Berks was one of three counties in southeastern Pennsylvania to be among the top five highest percentages in the state.<\/p>\n
![\"Over](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/REG-L-HumanTraffickingAOPC.jpg\")
Over the past five years, 1,432 human-trafficking offenses were filed on 431 cases in Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts)<\/p>\n
Delaware County had about 10% of the state total during that time, and Chester County had about 7%, placing those counties fourth and fifth, respectively, in the state.<\/p>\n
Court officials said 1,432 human-trafficking offenses were filed in 431 cases statewide.<\/p>\n
Human trafficking is a type of human rights abuse in which people profit from the exploitation of others \u2014 mainly using force, fraud or coercion to manipulate victims into engaging in sex acts or labor\/services in exchange for something of value, officials said.<\/p>\n
The top counties in the state:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Franklin: 208 charges; 14.53% of state total<\/p>\n
\u2022 Berks: 167; 11.66%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dauphin: 151; 10.54%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Delaware: 148; 10.34%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chester: 103; 7.19%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Blair: 75; 5.24%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lycoming: 69; 4.82%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lancaster: 58; 4.05%<\/p>\n
\u2022 York: 45; 3.14%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cumberland: 31; 2.16%<\/p>\n
The following counties had one charge each, representing 0.07% of the state total: Clarion, Crawford, Fulton, Jefferson, Potter and Union.<\/p>\n
A breakdown for counties in the region by year:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Berks: 6 in 2020; 92 in 2021; 2 in 2022; 12 in 2023; 55 in 2024; 167 total offenses, 11.66%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chester: 72 in 2020; 0 in 2021; 0 in 2022; 5 in 2023; 26 in 2024; 103 total, 7.19%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Delaware: 10 in 2020; 26 in 2021; 15 in 2022; 22 in 2023; 75 in 2024; 148 total, 10.34%<\/p>\n
\u2022 Montgomery: 0 in 2020; 6 in 2021; 3 in 2022; 1 in 2023; 16 in 2024; 26 total, 1.82%<\/p>\n
Court officials noted that 86% of defendants convicted are male, and the largest percentage of defendants \u2014 37% \u2014 are in the 30- to 39-year-old range.<\/p>\n
Help available<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know needs help, support is available.<\/p>\n
The DA\u2019s office encourages anyone with information regarding human trafficking to contact the office at 610-478-7171. Any information provided is kept anonymous.<\/p>\n
Contact Safe Berks at 844-789-SAFE or Text SAFE BERKS to 20121, or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, text \u201cHELP\u201d or \u201cINFO\u201d to 233733, or use their online tip form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams says aggressive work by law enforcement is the reason the county…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,46,202,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-102806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}