Human Trafficking Charges Against 25 People in Mass.

Massachusetts has charged 25 people with human trafficking since a new law aimed at cracking down on pimps who exploit children and women went into effect a little more than four years ago.

Attorney General Maura Healey on Thursday announced the indictments of five people in three human trafficking schemes.

Healey said one of them used the powerful opiate fentanyl to coerce women into prostitution - supplying them with the drug in exchange for engaging in sex with men and then collecting all the money they received, at times requiring they meet a nightly quota.

She said the traffickers prey on vulnerable women and profit from exploiting them. She said many women involved in sex trafficking were lured into the trade as teenagers and had personal struggles and little support early in their lives. She also targeted men who purchase sex, saying they drive the illicit trade.

"This is not a victimless crime," she said. "This is not, to be clear, an issue of consulting sex between adults."

The 2011 law - pushed by Healey's fellow Democrat and former Attorney General Martha Coakley and signed by then-Gov. Deval Patrick, also a Democrat - established the state crime of human trafficking for sexual servitude, punishable by at least five years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000 upon conviction.

The law was designed to change the focus of police and prosecutors from targeting prostitutes to going after the men who pay for sex with them and the pimps who profit from the transactions.

The law imposes a life sentence for anyone found guilty of trafficking children for sex or forced labor and includes a safe harbor provision allowing prosecutors to look at first-time offenders under 18 as victims rather than criminals. A company that traffics people for sexual servitude or forced labor services would face a $1 million fine.

On Tuesday, Republican Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced the creation of a three-member Massachusetts State Police unit to investigate incidents of human trafficking involving juveniles.

Polito said the unit will work with the Department of Children and Families, and also help local police departments on larger trafficking cases.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders also said this week that social workers and other mandated reporters will begin alerting DCF about cases of suspected trafficking. She said the cases will be treated as child abuse and reported to the special state police unit and district attorney for investigation and prosecution.

In the past, young people involved in the sex trade could be charged with prostitution instead of being treated as victims of abuse, Sudders said.