Stone County & Taney County deputies arrest 10 in an internet sex sting
GALENA, Mo. (KY3) - Deputies in Stone County and Taney County arrested ten people following an internet sex sting over two days.
Stone County deputies arrested four people on Monday night. Nayib Saldana, Dalton Parton, and Christian Diewert face trafficking charges. Mariko Kwizera faces an enticement charge. A judge ordered no bond.
Taney County arrested another six people at two locations on Tuesday. The prosecutor has not announced charges for those suspects.
“We did two nights of stings in Stone and Taney Counties,” said Sheriff Doug Radar. “In Stone County, we had four of these men show up thinking they were meeting an underage girl for sexual activity.”
Investigators say the four responded to an online ad offering to pay to have sex with who they thought was an underage girl. When they showed up at the site, deputies made the arrests.
“While many people may think of human and sex trafficking as big city problems, it’s now prevalent in rural areas too,” said Sheriff Rader. ”I think it’s a problem in this area because of Branson and tourism. There are a lot of transient people coming through these areas. I think it’s opened the eyes for all of us that we have a problem here locally. Nobody wants to talk about it or think about it because it’s not a fun subject. But the fact is it covers every corner of rural America.”
Veloris Juneman runs Pathways Project of the Ozarks, a non-profit that took part in the sting operations and helped two victims of sex trafficking.
”We’re not there to arrest these girls. We’re there to help them and give them the services they need. A lot of times, they just need to get away from their trafficker. One victim we recovered had only been ‘in the life’ as they call it, for three days. She was coerced off social media, which is a common problem these days. And 65 percent of those who get into sex trafficking have been coerced through social media. And the average age of introduction into the sex trade is 12.”
The Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET) assisted in the case.
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