KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee authorities say a children’s minister is among 32 people facing charges after a prostitution and human trafficking sting in Knoxville.
News media outlets on Friday quoted Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials as saying the suspects were arrested as part of the three-day Operation Someone Like Me, during which agents posted ads on Backpage.com. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports charges against those arrested include seven felonies and 30 misdemeanors.
The children’s minister, 46-year-old Jason Kennedy, was charged with human trafficking and patronizing prostitution. Jail records don’t say whether he has an attorney. The bureau said he works at Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville.
Operation Someone Like Me is the fifth sting in the state involving a collaborative effort between the bureau and local agencies to crack down on human trafficking.
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It’s those damned New York values again.
I demand that Tennessee pass legislation keeping children’s ministers out of public bathrooms.
Republican conservatism breeds corruption and immorality.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and assert that the BP ad was for an “escort” not a “human sex slave”. So you have a Minister busted for trying to hire a prostitute. Garden variety hypocrisy but probably not “human trafficking”. “Prostitution sting” would be a more apt headline (and lose the ‘r’ in string).
CORRECTION: He was responding to an ad for an underage girl?!? (thanks dwolf for the link) I’m trying to comprehend how you can write an ad like that on BP but looks like I stand corrected.
Fifth time?
Tennessee, you have a problem…