Narcotics agents with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office have arrested eight people, including a 16-year-old girl, and charged them with misdemeanor prostitution following a two-week undercover operation.
Agents received a tip about two weeks ago that led to them finding advertisements from people offering sexual services for money online, Capt. Archie Williams said.
An undercover agent set up appointments with the suspects through email, he said, and deputies arrested them after each suspect agreed verbally during in-person meetings to perform certain sexual services at certain costs.
Williams said each of the suspects worked independently, and arrests were made over the course of the past week.
“There was nobody actually running the operation or setting up meets and sending them,” he said. “Each and every one of them, they did it on their own.”
Five of the suspects were female and three male, Williams said. He added they did not all advertise on the same website.
The suspects arrested were Lowndes County residents Jamie Thorsen, 27, Wahnicia Hubbard, 22, Najee Fisher, 20, and Arthur Harris, 26. Also arrested were Santana Griffin, 25, of Pontotoc, Jana Jaggers, 48, of Tupelo and Jefferson Sanders, 40, of Enid.
Sanders is still in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center with bond set at $1,500. All the other suspects have been released.
Misdemeanor prostitution, upon conviction, carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $200 fine.
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