An undercover human trafficking and prostitution operation has netted 42 arrests in northeast Oklahoma, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control spokesman Mark Woodward said Monday.
The bureau's Human Trafficking Unit concluded a four-day operation Friday that focused on organized sex trafficking in Tulsa, Rogers, Ottawa and Delaware counties. Among the locations where people were arrested were two casinos in Ottawa County.
Woodward says three women were identified as victims of human trafficking and were taken to a shelter.
"None of the (trafficking) victims were on any missing-persons list," Woodward said. "The agency initiated the investigation as the result of information about individuals, including minors, forced into prostitution."
The youngest person taken into custody is 15 years old, and investigators are trying to determine whether she is a runaway, he said.
Woodward said no "community-by-community" breakdown of the arrests existed, so it wasn't clear what arrests were made in Tulsa.
No charges had been filed in Tulsa County as of Monday, but Woodward said charges likely would be filed here as soon as this week.
One search warrant executed at a Bixby massage parlor discovered illegal sexual activity and heroin, he said.
Bixby Police Department Sgt. Andy Choate said no arrests had been made there but that he expects at least three arrest warrants to be issued in coming days. The massage parlor will not be identified until the warrants are served, Choate said.
Woodward declined to name the casinos in the operation, saying: "They were not directly involved. They were simply among many locations where arrests were made."
This was not a casino-prostitution sting, he said.
According to probable-cause affidavits, the prostitutes were charging $60 for half an hour up to $700 for an overnight stay.
"This is not 'Pretty Woman,' " said prosecutor Becky Baird, referring to the 1990 movie. "These women are not trying to better themselves. They are in a desperate situation doing what they feel they have to in order to survive."
Thirteen arrests involved engaging in prostitution; 20 involved soliciting prostitution; seven involved pandering; one person was accused of aiding and abetting prostitution; and one arrest involved possession of methamphetamine.
No charges were filed in Delaware County, District Attorney Eddie Wyant said.
In Rogers County 16 people were taken into custody, but no charges have been filed, said Misty Douglas, Rogers County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman.
Charged in Ottawa County District Court are Ashley Romine, 26, of Ormond Beach, Fla.; Tica Shaner, 35, of Pierce City, Mo.; Misty Dawn Nelson, 35, of Wyandotte; Darrel Letheal Bailey, 42, of Wyandotte; David Wayne Hanenburg, 29, of Joplin, Mo.; Jamal Clifton Gibson, 22, of Fayetteville, Ark.; Nolan Henry Gibson, 19, of Fayetteville, Ark.; Pablo Guerrero-Campos, 35, of Edmond; Dominique Leeann Johnson, 21, of Fort Smith, Ark.; Brandi Michelle Burrows, 37, of Joplin, Mo.; and William Henry Lang, 25, of Cairo, Ill.
- Burrows and Johnson are charged with use of a computer to commit a crime and engaging in or soliciting prostitution.
- Campos, Hanenburg, Romine, Lang and Shaner are charged with engaging in or soliciting prostitution.
- Nolan and Jamal Gibson are charged with pandering and transporting a person for the purpose of prostitution.
- Bailey is charged with possession of marijuana.
- Nelson is charged with engaging in prostitution and possession of marijuana.
Baird said additional charges are expected to be filed this week.
"OBN is committed to dismantling organizations involved in the seedy world of prostitution and ultimately human trafficking," said Darrell Weaver, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
World Staff Writer Dylan Goforth contributed to this story.
Original Print Headline: 42 people arrested in prostitution sting
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