By John Dobberstein, Editor
COWETA — A joint operation by multiple law enforcement agencies Thursday led to arrests of several people in connection with an alleged human trafficking ring.
The Coweta Police Department and the Sequoyah County Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force arrested seven suspects — three of which were business owners and one a government employee.
The suspects face a variety of charges, including operating a house of prostitution, eluding police and obstructing an investigation. The arrests were announced by Wagoner County District Attorney Jack Thorp, who did not reveal the names of the suspects or businesses.
The Sentinel requested more information about the suspects from Thorp’s office Saturday but did not receive a response.
Skull Games, a veteran founded and operated nonprofit company that uses “open-source intelligence” to identify and pursue sexual predators, support law enforcement and recover victims, said the government employee arrested was a “federal agent” but did not elaborate.
“Sex trafficking is a rapidly growing problem in our communities and across our nation, and I am grateful to our law enforcement partners for their resolve in fighting the spread of these crimes,” Thorp said in a statement Friday.
In addition to the suspects who were arrested, officers located two people who are believed to be trafficking victims. Those victims have been offered services to help them recover, Thorp said.
“While it is disturbing that sex trafficking has become so prevalent, it is encouraging to see our local law enforcement agencies working together with a common goal,” Thorp added.
Earlier this year, multiple law enforcement agencies across Oklahoma participated in a training designed to help officers identify people engaged in human trafficking, he noted.
In March, Skull Games said it partnered with Thorp’s office to provide, “counter-human trafficking training and operational support” to law enforcement officers from northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas.
The operation, resulted in the arrest of four people and recovery of one victim. One of those arrested was a registered sex offender, another was a staff worship pastor for a local church, the third was former Tahlequah police officer, and fourth was a military contractor.
The District 27 Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, as well as the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Response Unit, also participated.
Shrikant Kumar says
I am the Manager at the Hotel. The investigators came to our hotel and asked us if we would allow them to rent a few rooms to set up this operation. We definitely wanted to help with this serious issue. However, from the article some people might conclude that we were the source of these activities. None of these activities were taking place at our Hotel. In fact our front desk agents are trained to look for signs of sex trafficking and report them. We helped the investigators lure the criminals to make our community safer, they were not already at our Hotel. I would urge the people who wrote the news article to please clarify this fact.
John Dobberstein says
Our article did not mention your hotel specifically or any hotel at all. Thank you for sharing this information.