FOLLOW US

Among the men busted in a North Texas prostitution sting were a high school teacher, a youth pastor, the director of a large hospital network, and a football coach.

The effort was connected to the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign. Law enforcement has had a series of large operations during January 2023 which is Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Over a dozen law enforcement agencies took part in a massive undercover operation on January 12 and 13. The men caught in the sting showed up after connecting online and expecting to pay for sex. And they were arrested at the Hyatt near Stonebriar Centre in Frisco and the Hilton at Southlake Town Square. 

All 46 men were arrested for solicitation of prostitution, a felony in Texas punishable with up two years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

The names of those arrested are not being released at this time.

Agent John Perez, who oversees the North Texas Trafficking Task Force which is part of Homeland Security Investigations said “When you think of trafficking, you think of streets in Dallas or Fort Worth or strip clubs. But there’s a lot of demand in the suburbs.”

In addition to the trafficking task force, agencies that took part in the January operations included the Arlington, Colleyville, Dallas, Flower Mound, Frisco, Irving, and Midlothian police departments. Also coordinating the efforts were the Collin, Dallas, and Tarrant County sheriff’s departments. And the Dallas County district attorney’s office will be prosecuting the cases.

Prostitution sting 

This is the second large commercial sex trafficking operation and prostitution sting where the North Texas suburbs were targeted. Recently, police arrested 23 people that were using short-term rentals in Dallas and Plano for the purposes of sex trade.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a prepared statement that “The victims of these heinous crimes are treated like commodities, used to make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible."

“Those who traffic victims are the scourge of the earth, and we will continue to target those responsible for the trafficking and those who solicit sex from them.”

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas who has called sex trafficking a “global scourge,” co-wrote legislation with Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to reauthorize the Abolish Human Trafficking Act. 

The law was passed with a bipartisan vote. And it provides millions of dollars to law enforcement and social-service agencies to combat sexual exploitation. 

NOTE: USA Herald investigative journalist Gabrielle Seunagal has been doing some excellent work in a series of revealing articles about human trafficking.