Police arrested 23 people after an investigation at short-term rentals in Plano and Dallas. Six people were arrested on Feb. 22 and an additional four were arrested on Feb. 23. Sarah Bahari is a trending news reporter. Hohman said it's important for people to be educated on the topic to protect themselves and their children. Many prostitutes are themselves victims of human trafficking, Cruz said. "In the past, we have heard public criticism to operations like this that amounted to this is just sex between consenting adults, but thats far from the truth," Chief Deputy T.J. Cruz said in a release. person will not be tolerated. Example video title will go here for this video. Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, a cadre of peace officers who specialize in agricultural crimes, said the organization stands by the arrests of the judge and the other defendants. TheDallas Police Department (DPD) said its Special Investigation Division ran an operation targeting online sex trafficking in the city of Dallas and Collin County. Texas law enforcement worked to uncover a huge prostitute sting of 46 community men. "In some of these stings you see blue-collar workers, executives, all types, but in this specific one, there's a number of first responders, and we expect first responders either help us in an unsafe situation, or we feel safe with them," said Hohman. Nov. 2, 2015. All rights reserved. He got permission from a landowner to turn them loose. Can I still get Beyonc tickets? And on Oct. 18, thats what he did, setting the operation into motion. Williams told Baker the bull was feral and came from the river, according to the warrants. / CBS Texas. racist or sexually-oriented language. Police arrested a youth pastor and a high school coach and teacher for The operation wrapped up Friday with the rescue of 28 children and the arrest of 59 people who are now facing at least 80 criminal charges. Baker alleged in the warrants that Medlin, 35, spotted three bulls and a heifer without markings roaming near the Pecos River in June in Reeves County. Ten people were arrested, ranging in age from 23 to 77. I applaud the dedication of these task force groups, including members of the Dallas Police Department, to bring these suspects to justice. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Busse, the sheriff, denied that to Baker. We will never stop working to identify, locate and apprehend these predators to make our community safer for our children," said Dallas Chief of Police Eddie Garcia. Jonathon Alvarado, another ranch hand, tried but failed to rope the calf. In Frisco, two hotels were used for an undercover operation resulting in the arrests of 46 men in only two days. Among the 46 men included a high school football coach, a youth pastor and a director of operations at a hospital. Read the crime and public safety news your neighbors are talking about. A police sting operation in Texas City led to the arrest of two women on prostitution charges and 11 men allegedly seeking prostitutes, Texas City police said Monday. Investigators said the alleged list of crimes ranges from meeting victims to possessing harmful material on electronics. Some of these were teachers who have direct access to our children. Baker wrote in the warrants that he had spoken briefly with the judge, whose late father, Elgin Punk Jones served as the sheriff for 28 years. In a previous sting, we arrested an individual with body bags, duct tape and bleach in his trunk, Cruz said. "Giving help and support to those who are vulnerable to being pulled into prostitution rings is a great way to start to eradicate the availability of the product.". Amanda Brim, Lewisville ISDs Chief Communications Officer, said Monday that Morrison was placed on administrative leave when the district was made aware of his arrest, and last week, he submitted his resignation. The devices are being examined forensically and may lead to the investigation of other offenders and additional charges. It's all over the metroplex.". Sarah Bahari, Staff writer. You have permission to edit this article. BELTON, Texas (FOX 44) A prostitution sting in Bell County has resulted in ten arrests. Some individuals are in custody but charges are pending.Additional names and charges are to be released. Awareness of sexual trafficking and exploitation have grown immensely in recent years, heightened by a handful of high-profile cases. Our effort is to deter all people from seeking out this criminal behavior, and, therefore, making our County safer for everyone.. Over the course of the operation, which took place across Feb. 22 and 23, female deputies posed as prostitutes in digital ads on websites reportedly known for promoting prostitution, said the Sheriff's Department. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Share with Us. These are individuals that we've told our children are safe. Jones lawyer did not return phone calls.). He said people have this "misconception" that sex trafficking only occurs in certain parts of Dallas. WebThe suicide of Bill Conradt was the November 2006 death of a local assistant district attorney in the DallasFort Worth metroplex after Texas police served him with search "We had a volunteer firefighter, a director of operations of one of the large medical systems here in the metroplex, we also had a semi pro hockey player who plays on the Allen team as well.". Then, on March 8, 2021, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden contacted Baker. The operation coincided with the Department of Homeland Securitys Blue Campaign to highlight Human Trafficking Prevention Month, which is January. High 83F. The Dallas area has a problem with sex trafficking, and authorities are using sting operations among other things to crack down. The accused listed below are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Texas authorities say a precinct chief was among over a dozen people arrested in an undercover prostitution sting operation. This fall, Jones is running unopposed for re-election, but some of his allies, including his sister, are facing challengers for the first time in years, amid heated debate over how the county should be run. You can reach her on Twitter at @rumpfsarahc, Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. ", Skinner urges parents to talk with their children about their devices and to "report any suspicious activity to their nearest law enforcement agency.". Theres no question about that, said Steve Simonsen, who is the Loving County attorney and married to a cousin of Jones. Federal authorities arrested 46 men in two days after its investigation of sex trafficking cases in North Texas. Miles is an award-winning reporter who has been covering North Texas for CBS 11 since 1996. Be Truthful. Generally cloudy. Authorities in Texas have arrested nearly 50 people, including one high school teacher and a youth pastor, as part of a sting operation aimed at combatting sex trafficking. There are known incidents, though many go unreported, of johns being assaulted, robbed and, right here in Bell County, recently murdered, Cruz said. The Department reported that six people were arrested on the first day of the operation, and four were arrested on the second day. BELL COUNTY, Texas Ten "would-be johns" have been arrested in a joint prostitution sting in Bell County, according What will ending the COVID-19 emergency look like in the US. Additionally, one of them received a charge of resisting arrest, but Bell County did not identify which. The documents detail a yearlong investigation, replete with confidential informants and a sting operation involving a reddish-brown cow, her calf and the black yearling bull all equipped by the special rangers with microchips. Wheat. On Wednesday and Thursday, digital ads were posted to known websites promoting prostitution. 10 men were arrested last week in a sting operation in Belton. The men allegedly arranged online to meet at the hotels where they intended to pay for sex, authorities said. When police have a strong suspicion that an individual has a predisposition to commit a crime, they may set up a sting operation to Weeks passed. Don't Threaten. The warrants allege that Jones and the ranch hands rounded up stray livestock in Loving and Pecos counties and sold them at auctions in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico without first notifying the Sheriffs Office to find their rightful owners a violation of a state law. A youth pastor. They can be subjected to physical and sexual assault, robbery and even murder.. However, Perez said, "In reality, it's not. Each of the arrested individuals was charged with Soliciting a Prostitute, a state felony in Texas. We'd love to hear eyewitness And an operations director of a large hospital network. Thank you for reading! Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. He later learned that ranch hand Cody Williams, 31, caught the cow, according to the warrants. "We have no indication the circumstances of his arrest involved students," Brim said. Ten Central Texas men ranging in age from 23 to 77 are charged with state jail felonies 10 men were arrested Wednesday and Thursday in a sting operation Advocates who help women and children survivors of sex trafficking said the arrests shed light on a bigger problem. In the past, we have heard public criticism to operations like this that amounted to this is just sex between consenting adults, Chief Deputy T.J. Cruz said in the release, but thats far from the truth.. So that's why we have to educate. What Jones most likely didnt realize from his steel perch as he scanned the horizon: He, too, was being watched as part of a cattle-rustling sting operation devised by special rangers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. BELTON, Texas ( FOX 44) A prostitution sting in Bell County has resulted in ten arrests. Then Baker got a tip on Nov. 4 that the reddish-brown cow and her calf had been captured and were penned up on the Joneses family ranch, the warrants state. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. "Electronic service providers, the services you might use on cell phones or your computers, detect contraband material on their servers and they report that to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who then forward that information to the affected law enforcement agencies," explained Rich. The Dallas Police Department (DPD) said its Special Investigation Division ran an operation targeting online sex trafficking in the city of Dallas and Collin County. We also had a semi-pro hockey player. During the operation, investigators seized a large number of electronic devices that will undergo forensic examination and may result in additional criminal charges being filed. Texas just became the first state to make a first-time solicitation of prostitution offense a felony. DALLAS Forty-six people have been arrested in connection with a commercial sex sting across North Texas, including a volunteer firefighter, youth pastor, "We had a high school teacher, who is also a football coach, we had a youth pastor," Perez said. But what do they mean? WebThe suicide of Bill Conradt was the November 2006 death of a local assistant district attorney in the DallasFort Worth metroplex after Texas police served him with search and arrest warrants stemming from a Dateline NBC Perverted-Justice online sting of men soliciting sex with children.. Perverted-Justice (PJ) and Dateline conducted their sting, Below are those formally charged so far in the operation. The sting operation comes on the heels of a new Texas prostitution law which went into effect on September 1, 2021, which turned the crime of soliciting prostitution from a Class B Misdemeanor to a State Jail Felony, which carries up to two years in state jail and a fine up to $10,000. They can be subjected to physical and sexual assault, robbery, and even murder.. Often commercial sex workers are the victims of sex trafficking because they are either underage or were forced into the role, Dallas branch of Homeland Security Investigations special agent Lester Hayes explained to Fox 4. The Sheriffs Department is also concerned with the potential connection between prostitution and human trafficking. According to federal officials in the Dallas branch of Homeland Security Investigations, one of the 46 men was Fort Worth pastor Lamarcus Strickland. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. All rights reserved. Under Texas law, grand jurors cannot be related by blood or marriage. Known as "Operation Home Alone", law enforcement officials used the undercover operation to target suspects believed to have been preying on young adolescents online. A youth pastor was among the 46 men arrested after an investigation revealed those suspected behind sex trafficking cases in North Texas, according to a North Texas is under storm risk levels 2, 3 and 4. But Jones supporters say he was set up. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) conducts minor sting operations as part of its enforcement of these laws, and the TABC is very transparent about the manner in which they conduct these operations. In the past, we have heard public criticism to operations like this that amounted to this is just sex between consenting adults, Chief Deputy TJ Cruz said, but thats far from the truth., In a previous sting, we arrested an individual with body bags, duct tape, bleach in his trunk, Cruz continued. BELL COUNTY, Texas - 10 people ranging in age from 23 to 77 from all over Central Texas were arrested following a prostitution sting in Bell County. Law enforcement groups say over the course of the operation, 28 children were rescued from online sexual abuse, and investigators seized terabytes of data and According to federal officials in the Dallas branch of Homeland Security Investigations, one of the 46 men was Fort Worth pastor Lamarcus Strickland. Jones, the scion of a prominent ranching family and the top elected official in this sparsely populated West Texas county for the past 15 years, is charged with three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of engaging in organized crime potentially facing decades in prison if convicted. And an operations director of a large hospital network. The backstory of what led to the arrests of Jones, a former sheriffs deputy and two ranch hands in May is chronicled in a stack of warrants obtained by NBC News. Legal Statement. Sparks recalled the judge saying, Well, hes going to market., Sparks, whos lived in Loving County for more than three decades, said the first step after finding cattle is clear: You turn them over to the sheriff., Asked if thats common knowledge, Sparks said: Hes a judge! Sarah Rumpf is a writer on the breaking news team for Fox News Digital. Jones climbed atop the tank battery in December, trying to spot him. An additional four individuals were arrested on the second day of the operation, the news release stated. Using information from informants, he expanded his investigation to include Leroy Medlin, a former Loving County Sheriffs deputy whod been fired from the San Antonio Police Department and was working as a part-time ranch hand for Jones. Operation Janus allowed us to collectively support each other by sharing resources and intelligence to catch predators in the act. Baker recently was appointed police chief in Coleman, Texas his hometown and left his job as a special ranger, though Fuchs said Baker will still see this case The victims of these heinous crimes are treated like commodities, used to make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a prepared statement. What's next? The Bell County Sheriffs Department, with its partners the Bell County "Our effort is to deter all people from seeking out this criminal behavior, and, therefore, making our County safer for everyone.". The men had arranged online to meet at the hotels intending to pay for sex, authorities said. There is no indication from the records that the judge or the ranch hands had a role in the cow killings, which remain unsolved. Soliciting prostitution used to be a slap on the wrist misdemeanor charge. I wasn't a BeyHive member. The safety of alleged johns is also a concern for law enforcement. Awareness of sexual trafficking and exploitation have grown immensely in recent years, heightened by a handful of high-profile cases. And then the ripple effect of that is we'll catch people that are making these types of offenses. Bell County Sheriffs Department released the identities of 10 men arrested on prostitution charges in a human trafficking suppression operation that concluded Thursday, according to a news release Saturday. More than 60 men have been snared in a sting operation as they allegedly tried to pay for sex earlier this year at a bogus modeling studio police opened in the Houston area. Known as "Operation Home Randy Reynolds, the district attorney in charge of prosecuting felony cases, did not return phone calls. Right? Some of the conversation seemed strange at the time, Baker noted. Forty-six men who included a high school football coach, a youth pastor and a director of operations at a hospital were recently arrested during a multi-agency operation targeting the demand for commercial sex in North Texas, a federal agency announced on Friday. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please enter valid email address to continue. A Connecticut woman says her two 10-year-old German Shepherds, Cimo and Lieben, were shot, beheaded, and killed by a hunter from New York. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) In January 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Criminal Investigations Division (CID) conducted multiple Adult Prostitution Operations and Online Solicitation of Minor Operations throughout the West Texas Region. WebThe suicide of Bill Conradt was the November 2006 death of a local assistant district attorney in the DallasFort Worth metroplex after Texas police served him with search and arrest warrants stemming from a Dateline NBC Perverted-Justice online sting of men soliciting sex with children.. Perverted-Justice (PJ) and Dateline conducted their sting, The people charged as a result of this operation preyed on some of our most vulnerable, our children. Those arrested also included a volunteer firefighter, a semi-professional hockey player, and the director of operations for a large hospital network in Texas. In regards to sex trafficking and child pornography, Hohman said there's no bias and that people from all walks of life, jobs and backgrounds can commit these crimes. Many prostitutes are themselves victims of human trafficking, Cruz said. Jones and his family members through blood or marriage have a tight grip on the local government, serving as judge, clerk, county attorney and constable. The undercover officers placed ads that blended in with countless others found online, according to CBS News. Define Prostitution in Texas A person can be charged with prostitution under Section 43.02 of the Texas Penal Code in two situations: The moment has gone viral on TikTok with more than one million views. J.D. Low 66F. Courtesy photo. Teachers, firemen, nurses, and so that's extremely concerning in this particular operation. The names of the suspects were not released by federal authorities. North Texas Porch Thieves Becoming Bolder, Fort Worth Reviews Violent Crime Response Initiative, At Least 36 Dead After Trains Collide Head-on in Greece: Indescribable Tragedy', LIVE RADAR: Severe T-Storm Watch Until Noon, Powerful Storms Forecast for Thursday, The Pandemic Altered Many Things, Including Alcohol AbuseThese Are the Warning Signs. Loving County, the least-populated county in the continental U.S., had 57 residents as of the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Inherently, minor sting operations involve the TABC going undercover to identify establishments that sell alcoholic Baker made it over there before they could be sold, he wrote. 10 men arrested in prostitution sting in Belton; 6 from Killeen, By Jana Lynn Kilcrease | Herald Staff Writer. FRISCO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) Federal authorities announced a major crackdown on prostitution that reveals sex trafficking in North Texas remains an ongoing problem. Market data provided by Factset. On Feb. 22-23, digital ads were placed on known websites promoting prostitution. WACO, Texas (FOX 44) Twelve arrests have been made in a McLennan County prostitution sting. Anyone who is a victim or has information about other local sex trafficking cases is urged to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733). No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism Officers responded to more than 700 messages from 73 different people in response to ads placed as part of the sting over two days. Officials say six of the men were arrested the first day with four more being taken into custody on the second day of the operation. ", Perez added that this sting operation proves that sex trafficking is prevalent everywhere. What do you think his plan was? No, the sheriff replied, hed never gotten a report of stray cattle from anyone on the judges ranch, the records state. 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