TENNESSEE, USA — Several people have been arrested after a two-day undercover operation by Special Agents with the TBI Human Trafficking Unit and Task Force and detectives from the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.
On December 8, as part of an investigation into human trafficking in East Tennessee, authorities placed several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases, according to a press release.
Officials said that the focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors.
As a result of the operation, detectives and agents said they arrested seven men and booked them into the Greene County Jail:
- William E. Marx, 48, Greeneville: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- Joseph H. Vincent, 72, Greeneville: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- Samuel E. Foksha, 22, Inman, South Carolina: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- John W. Blackwood, 54, Georgetown, South Carolina: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- Charles L. Hunter, 75, Burnsville, North Carolina: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- Jacquez M. Carr, 23, Thomasville, Georgia: Trafficking for commercial sex act
- Edwin Garcia Gonzalez, 32, Knoxville: Two counts for trafficking for commercial sex act
Arrests stemming from undercover operation into human trafficking in East TN
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, and the Mosheim Police Department participated in the operation.