A documentary is out alleging that Columbia police allowed a sex trafficking ring to continue for about three decades, to protect a pimp named Barry Manthe as a drug informant. Nanette Ward with the Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition says if the claims are true, it’s discouraging.
Barry Manthe
“We are, as a culture, more concerned about the War on Drugs,” she says. “That’s just who we are right now. We have not moved to really embracing the fact that there are victims of this horrific crime of human trafficking.”
Ward tells Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia that local agencies need more training to investigate and prosecute traffickers.
“Most of it’s being done at the federal level,” Ward says. “In time, we need to get that experience. We need to have those local cases here in Missouri, here in Boone County, but we’re not there yet.”
A local filmmaker and police accountability group called Citizens for Justice released the film titled “Police Protected Pimp”.
The Columbia Police Department tells Missourinet an administrative review is underway of the video and the facts surrounding it.
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