There’s nothing like a sex scandal to catch the public’s attention.

Interest can only be heightened when the state attorney general comes to town for a news conference where we’re told a multi-agency prostitution investigation led to hundreds of arrests.

Mostly men in our community.

Husbands, fathers, sons, business owners, clergy, former lawmen and more are among the accused.

It’s enough to make you want to go online and find out if anyone you know was arrested. Tens of thousands of folks did just that.

It’s human nature.

The charges made public Friday against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft in Jupiter were fascinating, too.

But there’s a much bigger picture to the human trafficking investigation announced in Martin and Indian River counties this week.

More: Authorities announce bust of major human trafficking, prostitution ring

The prostitution and trafficking operations at 10 massage parlors in several Florida counties were linked to other states and overseas.

This is the big deal:

There were many victims, according to local law enforcement. Investigators continue to look into documents and electronic devices found at the massage parlors. The victims range from intimidated and threatened sex workers from overseas who speak no English to partners of johns who, police said, might have to worry about the lack of safe sex practiced in these massage brothels.

Glenn Grevengoed, a Vero Beach attorney, offered some insight the other night on Facebook.

“Scanning through the pictures there is one I recognize. It breaks my heart. A relatively young man with small kids, a beautiful wife, and both successful members of the community …

“It is a crying shame. The kids and wife will be even more deeply damaged than the man himself in all likelihood; and for what? A mirage and ephemeral lie of gratification clothed in impersonal sexuality with no more meaning than a wet rag.

“This is not a victimless crime ... the wife ... the kids ... Those poor Chinese women who were trapped in sexual slavery by those who brought them to this country promising them presumably much more.

“And, the ‘man’ who played this game of Russian roulette with his and his family's life is facing a whole new world of hurt that he caused himself and those he appeared to love. What a shame.”

As for the apparent sex slaves, we’re told some answered ads in China looking for legitimate masseuses. They received temporary work visas to come here, according to investigators.

Like many immigrants who speak no English, they apparently relied on their handlers for everything, including food, water and shelter (which authorities, in some cases, said was the business).

More: Patriots owner charged with soliciting prostitution in Jupiter

After being forced into servitude in such a way, how could they ever go back to their families?

“Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit,” according to Polaris, which tries to prevent and attack human trafficking. “It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 24.9 million people around the world.”

Exploitation of American and immigrant boys, men, girls and women happens in other industries, too.

Reports of human trafficking in Florida have increased from 861 in fiscal 2014 to 2,133 in fiscal 2018, with a peak of 2,224 in fiscal 2017, according to the state Department of Children and Families.

They've happened locally, including one of the worst in "modern America," according to the Human Trafficking Project at Florida State University.

"The girl was 14 years old when she was approached by a couple in her hometown of Vera Cruz with an offer to work in their restaurant in America," TCPalm reporter Derek Simmonsen wrote in 2008. "After paying about $2,000 to cross the Mexican border, she learned she'd be paying off the debt another way — by becoming a prostitute.

More: What about the sex trafficking in Vero Beach and Sebastian?

More: Martin County Sheriff William Snyder details how brothels operated

"She was just one of many girls and women to end up working against their will for the Cadena-Sosa family in brothels in Fort Pierce, Okeechobee and elsewhere in Florida."

The brothels were raided in the late 1990s. It took more than 20 years to sentence some members of the human trafficking ring to prison. In 2015, the Sun-Sentinel reported, one member, Rafael Alberto Cadena-Sosa, 46, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and fined more than $1.2 million.

There have been other lower-profile cases of human trafficking, from more traditional pimp-style street prostitution to forcing immigrants to work in restaurants to repay debts.

The victims can be our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. In some cases, their loved ones can be worrying about them or trying to find them.

So instead of gawking over mugshots of our neighbors, let’s be on the lookout for establishments that might be havens for human trafficking.

If you suspect something’s wrong, call your local law enforcement agency or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.