{"id":206117,"date":"2026-05-21T20:39:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=206117"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:39:39","slug":"dozens-arrested-in-statewide-sting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/05\/21\/dozens-arrested-in-statewide-sting\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens arrested in statewide sting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — Outgoing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Thursday that a statewide human trafficking operation conducted this month by dozens of agencies resulted in the arrests of 122 people seeking to buy sex \u2013 including from minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis operation brings us to 1,065 arrests since our statewide stings began in 2019,\u201d Yost said. \u201cIt shows the problem isn\u2019t going away, but perpetrators are getting increasingly skittish as our message reverberates \u2013 Don\u2019t buy sex in Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Dave Yost<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Led by Yost\u2019s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC), Operation Spring Cleaning took place May 13-20 in 15 counties, including urban centers, suburban communities and rural areas throughout the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recap of the operation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • 38 people were arrested on felony charges, including promoting prostitution, compelling prostitution, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, trafficking in persons, and drug possession and\/or trafficking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 84 \u201cjohns\u201d seeking to buy sex were arrested and charged with engaging in prostitution or solicitation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 42 human trafficking survivors were referred by law enforcement to healthcare and social-services organizations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 15 search warrants were executed in connection with suspected human trafficking at massage parlors in Akron, Columbus, Dublin, Grafton, Powell, Toledo and Willoughby. More than $120,000 was seized, along with evidence for long-term investigations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Highlights of the sting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Executed search warrants at four massage parlors where human trafficking is suspected: Rejuvenation Spa, 5841 Karric Square Dr., in Dublin; Red Bean Spa, 1066 Norton Rd., in Columbus; 7 Days Spa, 4889 Sinclair Rd., in Columbus; and K Massage Spa, 240 N. Liberty St., in Powell. Yixiang He, 51, of Columbus, was arrested and charged with promoting prostitution and money laundering. The investigations are ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    H.E.A.L. Human Trafficking Task Force<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Executed a search warrant at King Me Spa, 35111 Royalton Rd., in Grafton.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Arrested and charged Mesha Michael Savi, 33, of Carlisle Township, with pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Seized $18,622 in cash.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Referred three survivors to social services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force:<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Arrested Timothy Tolson, 35, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, on charges of compelling prostitution, importuning, possessing criminal tools, possession of cocaine and corrupting a minor with drugs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Charged five men with attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor: Christopher Crawford, 37, of Pennsylvania; Eric Galiano, 55, of West Virginia; Larry Hitchings, 58, of Norton, Ohio; Raul Martinez, 26, of North Carolina; and Timothy Powell, 56, of Canton, Ohio.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Executed a search warrant at Oriental Spa, 37812 Vine St., in Willoughby, seizing $20,000 in cash as part of an ongoing investigation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Arrested and charged Jason Petrov, 57, of Brooklyn, Ohio, and Patrick Moner, 63, of Cleveland, with engaging in prostitution. Petrov is an active Cleveland firefighter, and Moner is a retired Cleveland firefighter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Arrested Dustin Crowder, 41, of Georgia, and Jeffrey Murphy, 53, of Lyndhurst, Ohio, on charges of compelling prostitution and possessing criminal tools. Both men allegedly believed they were meeting minors for sex.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Arrested Michael Pavlov, 29, of Newton Falls, Ohio, on charges of rape and endangering children in a case involving a 6-year-old.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Arrested Jeffery Villanueva, 56, of Niles, Ohio, and Jeff Anders, 55, of Boardman, Ohio, on charges of attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, importuning and possessing criminal tools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Sought and secured the indictment of Misti McKinney, 38, of Youngstown, on charges of trafficking in persons, promoting prostitution, robbery, retaliation, possessing criminal tools, assault and soliciting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Summit Regional Human Trafficking Task Force<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Executed a search warrant at La Lune Spa, 102 Western Ave., in Akron.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Charged three Ohio men with importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor: Izaeik Groos, 24, of Akron; Jordan Novak, 38, of Euclid; and Tyrell Taylor, 38, of Akron.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Toledo Police Department VICE Unit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Executed a search warrant at YG Therapy, 3443 Secor Rd., in Toledo, charging two people with promoting prostitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “Johns”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

          \n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          VW independent staff\/submitted information COLUMBUS — Outgoing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Thursday that a statewide human trafficking operation conducted this month by dozens of agencies resulted in the arrests of 122 people seeking to buy sex \u2013 including from minors. \u201cThis operation brings us to 1,065 arrests since our statewide stings began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 06:21:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206140,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206117\/revisions\/206140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}