8 arrested in human trafficking sting; Sheriff: ‘Full blown effort’ of department, nonprofit

Eight individuals were arrested and booked into Brown County Jail following an online sting by local law enforcement to combat sex and human trafficking.

In the effort, Brown County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Covenant Rescue Group (CRG), a nonprofit that aims to bring hope and freedom to victims of human trafficking by providing training and expertise from trained professionals.

Det. Capt. Brian Shrader told the Democrat last week that he and Sheriff Brad Stogsdill had an interest in conducting an operation like this for the past few years.

They got in touch with CRG, knowing the group had worked with Johnson County law enforcement in the past.

Shrader said that CRG gave pointers on where they had success in online sting operations that would lead to arrests.

Together, law enforcement officers and members of CRG worked from April 11 through 13 speaking with around 200 people via online profiles that were created by law enforcement.

Shrader said they did not reach out to anyone, but rather individuals reached out to the profiles they had made.

Of the 200 people with whom officers spoke, around 75 showed interest in having sexual relations with a child, Shrader said. Some of those 75 showed up to where police were stationed, ready to make arrests.

He said that in their conversations, individuals were “all well aware” that they were meeting minors, and it was up to them whether or not they were arrested, by showing up to the arranged meeting place.

Those who were arrested were all from out of the county — some driving as far as two hours — however Shrader said that some who showed up to the meeting place without making contact were from Brown County.

Two of the eight individuals arrested were convicted sex offenders.

Charges were filed in the Brown County Prosecutor’s Office against those arrested:

Kelly Barton, Columbus, child solicitation, Level 5 felony, possession of methamphetamine, Level 6 felony; Francis Garvey Jr., Terre Haute, child solicitation, Level 5 felony; Alejandro Garma, Indianapolis, child solicitation, Level 5 felony; Paul Solt Jr., Bedford, child solicitation, Level 5 felony; Jeremy Melton, Columbus, child solicitation, Level 5 felony (two counts); Zachary Shearer, Corydon, child solicitation, Level 5 felony; Eric McClintic, Columbus, child solicitation, Level 5 felony; Edward Douda, Solsberry, child solicitation, Level 5 felony.

Doing what it takes

Altogether, there were 18 on the team behind the scenes: ten from the sheriff’s department and eight from CRG.

Shrader said that the effort will probably be kept going as long as manpower allows.

“It takes an entire team effort,” Shrader said.

“Dispatchers, jail officers — it really does take a team effort to pull something like this off.”

Stogsdill said that the men and women involved did really well, bypassing “hiccups” in the operation quickly and smoothly.

“It was a full-blown effort by our department and I’m just extremely proud of them,” he said.

Stogsdill said last week that as sheriff of the county, he is going to do everything he can to protect the community, especially for the youth in the community.

“(I’ll) do what I can to take predators of the street, protect our youth and community as a whole,” he said.

“(We’re) going to do what we can to remove to remove predators and protect our children.”

“It’s always important to combat human and sex trafficking, especially with minors,” Shrader said.

“We wanted to do our part nationally and locally and hold these people accountable for what they do.”

Stogsdill said the sheriff’s office is not just reactionary, but the department is working hard to do its due diligence to keep crime out of the county.

“I feel like I have one of the best departments in the state, and our staff is second to none,” he said.

“I don’t think our community knows how serious our department is in protecting them. I was extremely proud of our effort. It takes some overtime and things like that, but I feel like it’s worth it.”

More about CRG

According to CRG’s website, the nonprofit’s goal is to rescue the vulnerable, protect the weak and bring the wicked to justice across the nation, and even worldwide.

Director of Operations and Training Mike Reebals said last week that CRG’s wheelhouse is doing pedophile stings.

Reebals coordinates with law enforcement agencies and prosecutor’s office to set up training in combating human trafficking. They conduct interview and interrogation classes, chatter and decoy classes and how to essentially plan and set up an operation or sting.

They also provide to the agency is free firearms and tactics training as a way to get the department to commit to the operation.

CRG was started by Jared Hudson and his wife. Jared is a former Navy SEAL and is currently a law enforcement officer for the state of Alabama.

The Hudsons have had a passion for this work for a very long time, Reebals said.

All donations to CRG go towards combating human trafficking and providing training for law enforcement.

“Our inspiration is that we know that law enforcement has a hard time with manpower and funding,” Reebals said.

“The combating of human trafficking in the pedophile arena is something that has been going on for awhile but the way we teach it and do the operations is a way that has not been tried very often until lately.”

Reebals said most of those in the organization are parents and feel “called to protect innocent children.”

“We are all either former military or law enforcement and in some cases both so we feel as if we can be very helpful in combating this evil,” he said.

He said most people that CRG speaks with believe that human trafficking is “out there,” but they don’t realize it’s happening in their own back yard.

“We have come to realize that most people do not realize the amount of predators that are willing to do harm to young kids,” he said.

“With social media and all kinds of dating and sex apps it is a lot easier for predators to find the victims and take advantage of them.”

He said that some individuals in the sex work world are in the industry because they feel as if that is their only way to survive.

“With this being the case we have created relationships with advocacy groups that help people that are caught up in this industry,” he said.

The advocacy groups that CRG works with provide after care, housing, job opportunities as well as medical and psychological help. This is provided to adults as well as children.

CRG has done operations in several states and counties in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Utah and Texas. As funding grows CRG will continue to expand to as many cities and states that they can.

“We are a legit group that doesn’t try to do things on our own like some bunch of vigilantes,” Reebals said.

“We work exclusively with law enforcement and most of us are actually sworn law enforcement officers. We do the work we do because we believe in what we do and we feel as though God has called us to do what we do.”