In its first year, the Aurora Police Department’s new human trafficking unit opened 53 cases, arrested 28 suspects and recovered 29 survivors. Fifteen of those survivors were minors.

The unit’s leader, Sergeant Joseph Sullivan, says those numbers don’t point to a sudden increase in trafficking, but rather reflect the department’s ability to focus on a crime it already knew was occurring. “The unfortunate thing [about] any crime is once you start to look deeper into something, the more of it you’re going to find,” he said. 

The Aurora Police Department formally established a dedicated Human Trafficking Unit in September 2025 as a response to a recognized need for specialized investigators who focus on the survivor-centered nature required when working human trafficking cases.

The current team is primarily focused on helping people under the age of 21 experiencing exploitation. “A lot of our recovered survivors are reported as runaways,” said Sgt. Sullivan. 

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, kids who run away from foster care or other state custody placements face some of the most acute risks of any missing child population. Traffickers seek them out, targeting them as they struggle to meet basic needs like shelter, food and belonging.

“I think the hardest part is understanding the psychology of how people are manipulated into it,”  Sgt. Sullivan said. “The force and the fraud and the coercion [traffickers use] to get these victims to do the things that they’re doing is way more complicated than what you see on the surface.”

But the risk extends beyond children in the foster care system. Young people seeking access to drugs or sharing their vulnerabilities online can also become targets.

“Traffickers can identify kids through social media if they have access to their accounts,” he said. “It could also be an introduction from a friend to be like, ‘Hey, I know this guy and this is what he gets me. You should come meet him.’” 

Sullivan says the cases his unit investigates can vary widely. Some involve a single person exploiting someone in exchange for drugs. Others begin with one suspect and expand as detectives identify multiple survivors and additional people involved.

“It really runs the gamut,” Sullivan said. “We have a couple cases running right now where there’s one individual that’s kind of at the center of it and then it branches out and it creates more of an organized crime kind of dynamic.”

Cases investigated by APD’s Human Trafficking Unit can originate with tips from hospital or school social workers. Detectives can also identify potential cases by searching for keywords in investigations elsewhere in the department.

Among the 28 suspects arrested within the first year of the unit’s operations is 24-year-old Marshae Wheelock of Aurora. He is involved in numerous human trafficking and sexual exploitation cases over several years involving multiple children and has three active court cases in Arapahoe and Adams district courts. At his sentencing next month, he’ll face eight to 16 years in prison.

“Marshae Wheelock represents the type of offender the Human Trafficking Unit was created to investigate; someone who repeatedly preys on vulnerable children,” said Deputy Chief Mark Hildebrand. “I’m proud of the work our investigators did to identify this pattern of exploitation and build these cases to ensure he cannot victimize another child in our community.” 

The unit’s work comes as Colorado voters prepare to weigh tougher penalties for child sex trafficking. Proposition 133, which will appear on the November ballot, would make human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude punishable by life in prison without parole. The measure would also expand the crime to include knowingly exchanging something of value to buy sexual activity with a minor.

Once a survivor is recovered from trafficking, APD’s new unit works to connect them with organizations who can help them piece their lives back together through services ranging from housing and food to therapy. 

“Putting bad guys in jail is great,” said Sgt. Sullivan. “However, getting our survivors the resources to succeed and make progress in their lives is what the focus should be.”

Now in its second year, the unit has three dedicated detectives led by Sullivan. He says investigators also know labor trafficking and the trafficking of adults over 21 are occurring in their jurisdiction. He hopes the unit will eventually have the resources to tackle those cases too.

“Being able to expand some of our reach would be phenomenal,” he said.

For now, Sullivan says the unit’s focus remains on Aurora’s young people — and that with each new investigation, detectives continue to find more work waiting for them.