SWEETWATER, Tenn. — Six men have been arrested following an undercover operation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Human Trafficking Unit and other agencies. The bureau says the East Tennessee men were seeking illicit sex with minors.
The TBI says during a two-day period beginning May 26 authorities placed several decoy advertisements known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases.
As a result of the operation, authorities arrested the following men and booked them into the Monroe County Jail:
Matthew Jason Cohen, 42, Maryville: trafficking for a commercial sex actSteven Lawrence Kobylski, 33, Decatur: soliciting sexual exploitation of a minorJames Stephen Stinnett, 37, Madisonville: trafficking for a commercial sex actAnthony Cornelius Baylis, 37, Harriman: trafficking for a commercial sex actJoshua James Thomas, 32, Tellico Plains: trafficking for a commercial sex actPedro Juan Berenguer Torres, 50, Powell: trafficking for a commercial sex act
The TBI was also assisted by the Sweetwater Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the 10th Judicial District Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, and the office of 10th District Attorney General Steve Crump.