In September, Amy Sawulski of Redford Township pled guilty to two counts of human trafficking in Washtenaw County Trial Court. Sawulski was running a prostitution ring out of the Red Roof Inn on State in May 2013, when she was arrested in an FBI-led raid (“A Road Back from Walking the Streets,” April 2014). Eight other counts, including recruiting a minor for child sexually abusive activity, were dismissed in a plea bargain, and Sawulski was sentenced to two years’ probation.
Elizabeth Campbell, a clinical assistant professor of law in U-M’s Human Trafficking Clinic, says the sentence was “less severe” than in many cases, but she’s glad to see any prosecution of traffickers, saying abuse is “more prevalent in every single community … than we realize.” And Campbell applauds the Washtenaw Human Trafficking Court, which works with the clinic to provide rehabilitative services to prostitutes victimized by trafficking. Its first graduate, Catherine Justice, is now working with the court as a mentor to other women.
