HOUSTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Six people have been charged in Houston with sex trafficking of women and children, U.S. and local police authorities said Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department said it was the largest domestic sex-trafficking case ever prosecuted in the Southern U.S. District of Texas.
Five of the six were arrested late Monday and early Tuesday in a coordinated effort between federal and local law enforcement, after the unsealing of an Aug. 4 indictment Tuesday.
The indictment charges John Butler, 47, William Hornbeak, 34, Jamine Lake, 27, Andre McDaniels, 39, and Kristen Land, 28, all of Houston; and Ronnie Presley, 35, formerly of Houston and now of Tulsa, Okla., with conspiracy to traffic women and children for the purposes of commercialized sex, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, transportation of minors, and coercion and enticement, the Justice Department said.
Presley is a fugitive.
The indictment alleges the six operated commercialized sex businesses often disguised as modeling studios, health spas, massage parlors and bikini bars in Houston, and used sexually oriented publications and Web sites to advertise. Their alleged enterprise transported women and minors to and from the Houston area, and had ties to Kansas, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.
Alleged victims included women and minors as young as 16 who were routinely beaten and threatened and were denied any of the proceeds from prostitution, the department said.
