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Local pastor’s conviction sparks conversation on protecting children

Dr. Celia Williamson, who oversees the University of Toledo’s human trafficking and social justice institute on campus, said parents need to do their best to meet their children’s needs and to be involved in their lives.

TOLEDO (WTOL) - Former pastor Anthony Haynes guilty conviction Wednesday sparked the conversation of how to protect the children in the community.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Dr. Celia Williamson, who oversees the University of Toledo’s human trafficking and social justice institute on campus, said.

She said that the testimony of Anthony Haynes shows he believed in his own power no matter what.

READ MORE: Local pastor found guilty on all charges in sex trafficking case

She said the former pastor provides a prime example of a person in power exploiting vulnerabilities and that he used his victim’s craving for a father’s love to exploit and traffic the young woman for three years.

"The best thing you can do is understand your child’s vulnerability and fill it yourself,” she said.

According to her, parents need to do their best to meet their children’s needs and to be involved in their lives. That includes knowing who they’re texting, what’s on their phone, where they’re going, and who their friends are, she said.

Beyond grooming his victim, Haynes trafficked the girl by paying her for sex. While sex trafficking sounds like a grand criminal enterprise, Williamson said it’s actually quite simple.

Depending on the law, if a victim is a minor or under 16 years old depending on the jurisdiction "and they’re involved in the commercial sex trade, they’re automatically a victim of human trafficking,” she said.

Simply being paid for sex while being underage makes someone a sex trafficking victim, according to Williamson.

Lack of evidence and the strain on the victim makes sex cases some of the most difficult for prosecutors to prove, especially when the case revolves around someone the community respects.

"I’ve been doing this long enough to know that nothing’s 100 percent. Particularly sex cases are difficult. They’re difficult, they resonate emotion in people. He was a pastor and a member of this community, and so there’s always some doubt. I never doubted the main victim in the case, I believed her from the get-go,” Michael Freeman, Assistant United States Attorney, said.

"Pastor, police officer, judge -- when you have people that have unchecked power, the first thing you need to do in all these cases is check,” Williamson said.

Another highlight of this case is that during his three-hour testimony with the FBI, Anthony Haynes sexually involved a fourth man with the victim. Yet, U.S. attorneys said he was never charged due to lack of evidence.

Investigators and community leaders said they hope this case will serve as an example to show victims they can be heard and as a warning to future predators that justice will prevail.

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