3 busted in sex trafficking sting during week of F-1 Miami Grand Prix: officials
Three men were arrested on human trafficking charges during a joint federal, state and local sting operation conducted to coincide with the week of the Formula One Miami Grand Prix, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.
The undercover operation — dubbed Operation Grease Monkey — targeted people looking to engage in sexual acts with minors between the ages of 12 and 14 years old, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The men arrested responded to ads placed by undercover detectives. When they spoke with a detective posing as pimps, they were told that minors were available for sex in exchange for money, said State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Lissette Valdes-Valle.
When the men traveled to a hotel, which was not named by the State Attorney's Office, they paid the undercover officer money and were given keys to rooms where they were told the underage girls would be. Each man was arrested when he opened the hotel room door, Valdes-Valles said.
The meet-ups happened between Tuesday and Friday, the State Attorney's Office said.
'The ugly crime of Human Trafficking is made even more dreadful when the intended victims are children. Sadly, individuals are looking specifically for young victims,' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. 'Fortunately, as this joint effort shows, the Miami-Dade law enforcement community is united to fight such predators.'
Arrested were: Daniel Xavier Oneil, 27; Tito Xavier Gutierrez, 38; and Tangir Jamil Riman, 27. Each man is charged with one count each of human trafficking, which is a first-degree felony, traveling to meet a minor for sex, a second-degree felony, and using an electronic device to solicit a parent to consent sex conduct with a child, which is a third-degree felony.
As of Tuesday, Oneil and Riman were being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on no bond on the trafficking and traveling to meet minors charges, and a $2,500 bond for the count of using an electronic device to solicit sex.
Gutierrez was being held at Metro West Detention Center on the same conditions. Attorneys for Gutierrez and Riman could not immediately be reached for comment. Information on Oneil's legal representation was not immediately available.
The State Attorney's Office worked with several agencies during the multi-day operation, including the Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Sunny Isles and Surfside police departments, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
Investigators ask anyone with information about human trafficking in South Florida to call the State Attorney's Office hotline at 305-FIX-STOP (305-349-7867) or to scan the agency's QR code.
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