Nearly 100 people are behind bars as a result of a prostitution sting in Polk County.
Over a four-day period, detectives arrested 92 people, including suspects from the Bay area as well as other parts of the country including Texas, New York, and California. Investigators made contact with the suspects through websites including Backpage.
"Prostitution is illegal, and those who commit or who derive proceed from this crime in Polk County can expect to go to jail," Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday.
Investigators said one suspect who posted bond Monday morning, is a youth minister at the Holy Cows youth ministry at New Community Mission Church in California. Detectives said 45-year-old Samuel Yoon arrived at an undisclosed location believing he would have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Judd said the 14-year-old girl was actually an undercover officer. Deputies were there to greet Yoon and take him to jail.
"This guy is a pedophile," said Judd. "This guy is very dangerous."
The youngest person arrested by deputies was a 15-year-old girl. Judd said the girl told them she became a prostitute when she was 13.
Judd wanted the operation to focus on the victims of human trafficking. However, he said he had trouble getting the 15-year-old and other suspected prostitutes to cooperate.
Judd promised he would work with the state attorney's office to open a criminal investigation into websites that facilitate prostitution.
"It's important for Backpage to understand we're opening an investigation, a criminal investigation into their organization because it's abundantly clear to us that they are facilitating organized prostitution," he said.