GBI: Multi-agency operation targeting sex trafficking leads to 24 arrests

The GBI says the multi-agency investigation targeted commercial sex buyers, traffickers and pimps in the Houston County area.

3 hours ago

Tucker Sargent,

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Twenty-four people were arrested during a recent multi-agency undercover operation targeting sex traffickers and commercial sex buyers in the Houston County area, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

In a news release Thursday, the GBI said the investigation was conducted from March 4 through March 6 and coordinated by the agency’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit.

The operation, called “Operation Rockin’ Robins,” involved the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, the GBI Middle Georgia Gang Task Force, Georgia State Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations. It involved several months of planning and aimed to identify people attempting to buy sex while also identifying pimps and human traffickers. The GBI says the suspects, who range in age from 17 to 61, traveled from several areas with the intent to purchase sex or sell sex commercially.

The people arrested and charged:

17-year-old Landon Borders of Hawkinsville, charged with pandering.
22-year-old Ryeena Unique Mallory of Macon, arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant out of Centerville.
24-year-old Gustavo Hernandez of Macon, charged with pandering.
25-year-old Marcell Antron Cone Jr. of Macon, charged with pimping.
25-year-old Ahmad Rice of Perry, charged with pandering.
25-year-old Brandon T. Smith of Smithville, charged with pandering.
29-year-old Armon Khalil Taylor of Warner Robins, charged with pandering.
32-year-old Tajh Shaheen Brooks of Warner Robins, charged with prostitution, possession of drug-related objects, possession of marijuana less than one ounce and identity fraud.
32-year-old Anthony Chase Hickey of Ball Ground, charged with pandering.
33-year-old Roderequist O. Warren of Byron, charged with pimping.
33-year-old Rajiv Yadav of Macon, charged with pandering.
34-year-old David Deonta Williams of Byron, charged with possession of methamphetamine, obstruction and probation violation.
36-year-old Joseph Bailem Jr. of Kathleen, charged with pandering.
36-year-old Hakeem Jerome Dunning of Kathleen, charged with pandering.
39-year-old Courtney Mills of Perry, charged with pandering.
43-year-old Javier Zarate Alvarado of Warner Robins, charged with pandering. Investigators say Alvarado also had an active removal order from the United States.
44-year-old Charles Fred Hobbs II of Bonaire, charged with pandering.
45-year-old Jeffery Michael McKay of Warner Robins, charged with pimping, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
50-year-old Michael Antoine Douglas of Kathleen, charged with pimping.
50-year-old Jason L. Winer of Bonaire, charged with pandering.
52-year-old Courtney McGriff of Cordele, charged with pandering.
52-year-old Bronwood Chad Smith of Gordon, charged with pandering.
54-year-old Steven Craig Hilliard of Eastman, charged with pandering.
61-year-old Steven Lewis Melanson of Fort Valley, charged with pandering.