Unsung: Aimee Schroeder

 Aimee Schroeder’s passion for helping people — in this case victims of sex trafficking — drives her work as a criminal intelligence analyst in the Washington County Attorney’s Office.“If you know someone is in danger, being kidnapped by a trafficker and being sold for sex, you feel for those people and just want to help them,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder, the state’s first criminal intelligence analyst to focus on the online commercial sex marketplace, proactively searches internet ads for victims and traffickers.

With a strong work ethic and organizational skills that have impressed colleagues, Schroeder examined more than 174,000 such ads from January 2016, when she took on this role, through last year.

Schroeder has contributed to the successful prosecution of more than two dozen traffickers and more than 50 commercial sex buyers. She has provided information leading to the recovery of more than 100 victims, including a 13-year-old.

Other agencies have added analysts to their sex-trafficking units based on Schroeder’s groundbreaking efforts.

Schroeder assists in presentations to raise awareness that sex trafficking is a problem even in the suburbs.

“A lot of people don’t think it’s a problem, especially in Washington County, because it used to be more in the cities, where it’s out on the streets,” Schroeder said. “But now everything’s online, so it’s everywhere.”