is willing to go out and rescue these girls.” After a silence, according to the agent, she said: “No, thank you: You don’t know what it means to someone like me that the T.B.I. At the end of the training conference call, the agents thanked her. “For an hour we talked with her in minute detail how they end up agreeing to meet, the slang,” Agent Quin said. The young woman went on to help agents prepare for their work by teaching them the language of the online sex trade. The operation’s name, “Someone Like Me”, was borrowed from the words of an 18-year old woman who had become a victim of a prostitution ring, a 15-year old runaway, Agent Quin said. The operation was conducted mostly in the northern and eastern regions of the state, including in Knoxville and Chattanooga, and in one instance included investigators from Georgia. The 32 arrested this month represent the largest group yet, an assistant special agent in charge, Margie Quin, said on Thursday. Bill Haslam signed legislation into law in May 2015 giving jurisdiction over trafficking cases to Tennessee’s bureau of investigation. This sting, called “Operation Someone Like Me,” was the fifth effort of its kind since Gov. Five women were cited for prostitution, the statement said. In addition, 25 men were arrested on charges of promoting prostitution, a felony, or patronizing a prostitute, which is a misdemeanor. The two ministers had responded to ads on, a website often used to solicit sex partners, placed by what they believed to be a 15-year-old girl, and were charged with felony human trafficking and prostitution, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement issued last Friday. According to Arizona Department of Corrections records, Shane Handel served almost five months in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to maintaining a house of prostitution.Agents posing online as young girls and women helped lead investigators in Tennessee to the arrests of nearly three dozen people, including two ministers, this month, part of an intensified yearlong effort to combat prostitution and human trafficking in minors. Subpoenaed bank records show that the illegally earned funds were being transferred between multiple accounts for both the escort and the limousine companies.Įditor's note: Charges against Erin Lawson were dismissed by prosecutors on March 25, 2016. Police later discovered that Maxim Limousine also went by another name, Tiffany Limousine. Investigators said Arizona Outcall is also known as AZ Industries and was running jointly with a limousine company known as Maxim Limousine Worldwide. Some of those escorts told officers that the defendants also owned a limousine company, which they used to hide the escort business, according to court records. An escort violation occurs when an escort or their employer is operating without a license, however, Phoenix considers any "sexually-oriented" escort services illegal regardless of license. Police documents also state that several female escorts were arrested for acts of prostitution or escort violations when responding to Arizona Outcall appointments. Prompted by the anonymous tip, the Phoenix Police Department collaborated with other Valley departments, as well as the San Diego Police Department, to conduct several undercover operations between April 2013 and September 2014, according to police reports.ĭuring this period, records show that undercover officers called Arizona Outcall and arranged prostitution deals with the company's escorts. Shane Handel, 40, and Erin Lawson, 24, were arrested Tuesday on multiple allegations, including illegal control of an enterprise, receiving the earnings of prostitutes and money laundering, according to court records.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |