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ONLY ON FOX: 13 men arrested in prostitution sting
A major bust in Harris County led to the arrest of 13 people and the rescue of women believed to have been sex trafficking victims. FOX 26's Damali Keith has more on how the sting operation unfolded.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A major bust in Northwest Harris County lands several people behind bars, and women believed to have been trafficked for sex have been rescued.
Prostitution became such a problem along FM 1960, that residents began reporting it to the Precinct 4 Constable's Office, which then saturated the area, making more than a dozen arrests and even saving several sex trafficking victims.
"Our effort is to push this type of illicit activity out of our area, away from our schools, away from our churches, away from our communities, because we know this type of activity breeds other crimes," explains Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
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Some of the 13 men arrested in the bust and charged with Soliciting Prostitution are also said to have committed other crimes, such as drug possession. "One of them was carrying a gun. One of them had a felony warrant out for his arrest," says Constable Herman.
The Harris County Precinct Constables Office ran the sting operation after receiving complaints from the community about prostitution on FM 1960 between Kuykendahl and the Hardy Toll Road, on the street, and inside certain businesses.
"We went after basically the supply side of prostitution and the demand side. Supply would be going into massage parlors. Several of our undercover officers were offered sex," the Constable explains.
A few massage parlors in Northwest Harris County have been shut down, places where Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman says sex was for sale by women who say they were brought to this country and forced to sell their bodies.
"We ran across several migrant females that are not from our country. They made an outcry that they're being human trafficked for sex and having to pay back debts," says Constable Herman.
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The prostitution along FM 1960 is said to have been happening all hours of the day. "So, it's a 24/7 situation," Herman says.
"We live about a mile from here," says one woman, and her daughter adds, "It's just actually very scary."
The mother and daughter say they are thankful for the crackdown, to clean up the area.
"The message to our community is we hear you. We're listening to you. All of these tips we got, we got from our community," the constable explains, he says the people arrested aren't even from the area, and to anyone planning to come here for illegal activity.
"Before you solicit sex from somebody you see on the side of the road, be careful because it might be an undercover police officer, and all 13 of these people we arrested, they got a lesson on that," Constable Herman adds.
The charge of Soliciting Prostitution is no longer a misdemeanor. It's a state jail felony and comes with a higher bond and stiffer penalties. "A state jail felony would carry 2 to 10 years plus a heavy fine," the Constable explains, and he says there are many more initiatives to come.