CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Eight people are in custody following a prostitution investigation in Cascade Township last week.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) says its Human Trafficking Task Force went undercover in a joint operation with the Kent Area Narcotics Team on 28th Street on Thursday, Aug. 3.
We’re told seven men from Michigan and one man from Indiana were arrested on suspicion of soliciting and prostitution at a hotel in the area. They are out on bond awaiting an Aug. 18 arraignment.
Deputies say the following suspects face the above charge as well as using a computer to commit a crime:
- 42-year-old man from Holland
- 24-year-old man from Alto
- 25-year-old man from Ann Arbor
- 42-year-old man from Allendale
- 32-year-old man from Kentwood
- 23-year-old man from Coopersville
- 33-year-old man from Grand Rapids
- 23-year-old man from Angola, Indiana
The sting targeted the commercial sex industry, according to the sheriff's office.
“Through communications through a website, eight people reached out and were interested in receiving prostitution services. They traveled as far as Angola, Indiana, and Ann Arbor, Michigan,” Kent County Undersheriff Chuck DeWitt said.
The Sheriff's office won't reveal what website they used but say it all starts with the suspects arranging online to meet what they think is a prostitute in person. The person on the other side of that chat isn't who they think.
“When they got there, they met our officers,” DeWitt said.
These foiled meetings happened in the hotels along the 28th Street corridor in Cascade Township.
“They establish a rapport. They don’t solicit. They don’t know who that person is. The person is interested in receiving those services; they reach out," DeWitt said.
The arrests happened on Aug. 3. Two people traveled more than two hours, from Ann Arbor and Angola, Indiana.
The sheriff's office says these arrests could lead to more.
“It’s very similar to our drug cases where we may start with individuals that are perhaps just using to then work our way up to those that are distributing,” DeWitt said.
The sheriff's department says at the very least, this shows prostitution and crimes online have no place in Kent County.
“It may amount to nothing, but if anything perhaps, it will highlight Kent County as a place not to come to receive these types of services,” DeWitt said.
Forty-seven new cases have been opened by the Human Trafficking Task Force in the last six months, according to the sheriff's office.
