Joplin , Mo. (KKUM) – It might be April Madness, but in Jasper County some unsuspecting criminals got wrapped up in “April Sadness.”
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office on Friday announced a major prostitution bust, resulting in the take down of more than a hundred suspects.
“Operation April Sadness,” a six-day-long undercover investigation at the JCSO Sheriff’s Operations Center in Joplin, Mo (from Sunday, April 23 through Thursday April 27, focused on those who advertise prostitution services in online ads and identifying victims of human trafficking.
JCSO undercover detectives, working with the Office of the State Attorney (29th Judicial Circuit, State Attorney Robert Deniro), arrested a total of 104 suspects.
Of the 104 suspects arrested:
38 were prostitutes
51 were “Johns,” or those who solicited to pay for prostitution
3 were local pastors
1 School teacher
10others were arrested for related charges, such as deriving proceeds from prostitution
1 was arrested for traveling to meet a minor
23 told detectives they were married
Detectives seized 2 firearms, and drugs including marijuana, Oxycodone, heroin and cocaine.
Many of the prostitutes traveled to Joplin, and told detectives they travel across the country, having sex for money.
The suspects ranged in age from 20 to 63 years old.
In all, detectives filed 37 felony charges and 128 misdemeanor charges against the 104 suspects. Among the 104 suspects, there was a total of 191 previous felonies and 288 previous misdemeanor charges in their criminal histories.