ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — 3News Investigates is learning more about some of the 160 people arrested in a weeklong human trafficking crackdown by the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
Among them are several people in positions of trust, including 32-year-old mathematics teacher Michael Schnurr of Brook Park. He was the lead math instructor at Mathnasium Rocky River, which provides private tutoring to school-aged children.
Undercover detectives arrested Schnurr at the Holiday Inn Express on Clemens Road in Westlake last Thursday. He is charged with engaging in prostitution.
3News visited Mathnasium Rocky River, where a person who identified himself as the franchise owner said that Schnurr was no longer an employee before shutting the door.
WKYC also reached out to Mathnasium corporate headquarters in California by phone and email. A person who answered the corporate phone line said someone would respond, but no one did.
On Monday, 3News Investigates learned that the co-founder of Cleveland-based Breakthrough Charter Schools was also among those arrested. John Zitzner, 68, is charged with engaging in prostitution, a misdemeanor. He has since resigned his position as president of the nonprofit, Friends of Breakthrough Schools.
The statewide initiative, known as "Operation Buyer's Remorse," took place from Sept. 25-30 "in every corner of the state" with undercover sting operations to combat human trafficking at varying levels, including the demand for prostitution.
"Those arrested come from all backgrounds, including an EMT, nurses, educators, retirees, former law enforcement officers, self-employed individuals, delivery drivers and others," according to a press release from the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
3News confirmed that among those arrested was the Director of Excellence for the University of Dayton, 55-year-old Michael Masterson. Masterson taught finance at UD, but his faculty profile is no longer on the school's website.
An Indiana University mathematics professor is also among those arrested in the sting. Ramesh Karki, 44, was arrested on a soliciting charge.
The Task Force says that "human trafficking is fueled by customers [predators] who engage in paid sexual services. The victims of human trafficking are often advertised on the internet by their traffickers."
James Schultz, chief of the Willoughby Police Department — which is a member of the Task Force — emphasized that targeting the "johns," or buyers of sexual services, is an effective way to stem the demand that fuels human trafficking.
"What we've found recently is there's sometimes large networks involved in this," Schultz said, "and the people that are involved in it, at really the ground level, are really victims.
"They're compelled to do this; they're forced to do this."
