SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A multi-agency, two-day human trafficking operation put eight men behind bars, according to a release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
A Lebanon, Virginia man, identified as 29-year-old Tyler Ryan Arrington, was among those charged.
Beginning on April 21, the TBI Human Trafficking Unit worked alongside the Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg police departments as well as the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit to arrest eight men accused of seeking sex from minors.
The operation entailed placing several decoy advertisements on websites linked to prostitution and commercial sex, according to the release, and it targeted those seeking sex acts with minors. The following men face sex crime charges:
- Tyler Ryan Arrington, 29, of Lebanon, Virginia: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Kevin Leroy Baer, 66, of Westminster, Maryland: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Carl Joseph Cantrell, 33, of Dandridge: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Ivan Kale Freeman, 30, of Knoxville: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Eric Burse Griffith, 40, of Robbins: One count of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means
- Benjamin Jason Holt, 44, of Newport: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Raul Pedro, 27, of Knoxville: One count of solicitation of a minor
- Denis Tyulkin, 45, of Ravenna, Ohio: One count of solicitation of a minor
