Multi-agency sting yields 19 arrests in Kansas child predator and sex trafficking operation
Undercover operation targets Junction City and Fort Riley corridor
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Sign up freeA joint law enforcement operation in Riley and Geary counties resulted in the arrests of 19 people accused of buying or selling sex, or arranging to meet children for sexual acts. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced Monday that the two-day sting, conducted Sept. 17 and 18, targeted commercial sex activity and child exploitation in the Junction City-Fort Riley corridor, an area law enforcement has repeatedly identified as a hub for such crimes.
The KBI said undercover officers posed as minors and sex workers during the operation, and that no actual children were victimized. Authorities offered victim advocacy services to three potential human trafficking victims identified during the sting and seized user-level narcotics. The operation was a collaborative effort involving the Riley County Police Department, the Geary County Sheriff's Office, the Junction City Police Department and multiple state and federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.
Of those arrested, 11 men face allegations of electronic solicitation of a child and attempted aggravated human trafficking; all were booked into the Riley County Jail. Ten of those suspects are from Kansas — including men from Manhattan, Lawrence, Topeka and Abilene — while a 29-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska, is expected to face federal charges.
Eight other individuals were booked into the Geary County Jail, including seven men accused of buying sexual relations and one female arrested on an allegation of selling sexual relations.
All 19 arrests currently remain allegations, and the suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. Charging decisions now rest with prosecutors in Riley and Geary counties, whose upcoming filings will determine whether the arrests transition into formal criminal cases.
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