Counter-human trafficking operation leads to arrests, victim assistance
UPDATE, JAN. 31:
An additional man has been charged for trying to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex after deputies arrested him in a sting operation last night.
Kansas City, Kan., resident Josue Rivera, 27, has been charged with one count of felony attempted child enticement.
Rivera was messaging with under-cover detectives during the original operation last week and continued communication until last night, Jan. 30, when he made arrangements to meet whom he believed to be the 14-year-old. Instead, deputies took him into custody at the meet-up location. He is being held on a $25,000 bond.
ORIGINAL, PUBLISHED JAN. 27, 2025
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, led a counter-human trafficking operation Jan. 23 and 24 that resulted in the arrest of two men who sought to have sex with a child, as well as services provided to more than a dozen potential trafficking victims.
Two men have been charged with felony attempted child enticement after they tried to meet whom they believed to be a 14-year-old girl for sex. It was actually under-cover detectives who had been chatting with them online and by text message. Those men are:
Jose Trinidad-Diaz, 33, of Kansas City, Mo. / Mexico
Dominic Shelby, 34, of Kansas City, Kan.
At the same time as the predator operation, investigators conducted a victim advocacy operation at a Clay County hotel. They had posted an online ad purportedly soliciting sex, knowing that many sex workers are victims of human trafficking. Twenty-seven sex workers responded to the hotel, and 13 agreed to accept services to leave a life of sex trafficking and/or sex work. Advocates from the organizations Value Unconditional and Relentless Pursuit met with them to begin giving them resources for their journeys.
The operation was a joint effort by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations – Kansas City, and the Ray County Counter Human Trafficking Task Force. The Ray County Task Force is a team of subject matter experts in the counter-trafficking space who contribute their time and knowledge at no cost to host law enforcement agencies. They are credentialed law enforcement officers and analysts from several sheriff’s offices and have deep connections to a network of aftercare and survivor support service organizations. During this operation, Task Force volunteers hailed from the Butler, Bourbon and Greenwood County sheriff’s offices in Kansas, the Washoe County, Nev., Sheriff’s Office and the Goodyear, Ariz., Police Department. They work discreetly with in-jurisdiction agencies with the support of the Ray County, Mo., Sheriff’s Office and many other credentialing agencies. Financially, they are supported by private donations from generous donors who believe in the mission of supporting law enforcement.
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Last week’s operation aimed to reduce the occurrence of human trafficking that takes place in Clay County and the Kansas City metropolitan area.
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