LAKE WORTH, Texas — The Lake Worth Police Department announced the arrest of 42 North Texans following what the department calls "Operation April Fools".
The department worked with Homeland Security Investigations Dallas to conduct the operation over two days, during which agents were able to identify people who responded to online sex ads with the intention of purchasing sex.
“They did engage with our undercovers, they did show up for the act that they agreed to, and we put them under arrest," said Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian.
The department released the names and mugshots for the 42 people, 41 men and one woman, arrested Wednesday. Manoushagian said the operation was focused on the purchasers of commercial sex.
In September 2021, Texas became the first state in the country to classify prostitution as a felony. Part of the push to do this was to combat sex trafficking, as victims of sex trafficking are often advertised as sex workers.
"People engaging in prostitution, the vast majority truly are victims of human trafficking," Manoushagian said. "There is someone controlling them. There is someone forcing them to be in that position. As humans and as police officers, we’re just not going to stand for that.”
According to Manoushagian, none of the people arrested are from Lake Worth. He said they are from across the DFW Metroplex, with a majority residing in Tarrant County.
According to HSI Dallas, the people arrested include a pharmacist, a school teacher and a football coach. The agency also said one of the people arrested is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a known white supremacy group.
While Manoushagian said none of the advertisements that the suspects responded to showcased minors, two of the people arrested had active warrants for sex crimes against children.
Wednesday's announcement came just two days after HSI Dallas announced 25 arrests in a similar, sister operation in Dallas County on Monday.
"Thousands of sex trafficking ads… new sex trafficking ads pop up on the Internet daily," HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Lester Hayes said. "Thousands. Some say 10,000 new ads daily. So, this is a momentous task for federal law enforcement and for state, and local law enforcement. That’s why we team up the way we do. The numbers are just astronomical.”
Both departments said they are focused on combatting human trafficking from all angles, including going after customers on the demand side, while continuing to recover victims and educating the public on what that victimization actually looks like.
