FARGO -- Calling attention to what they described as a “disgusting” problem in the Fargo-Moorhead area, police officials on Thursday, June 30, announced the arrest of 18 men as part of a sting operation dubbed “Guardian Angel,” which involved men who allegedly went to area hotels looking to hire minors for sexual activity.

The 18 suspects were arrested over the course of two days this week, and all 18 were being held in jail Thursday morning pending charges relating to soliciting minors for sexual activity.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Fargo Police Chief David Todd said at a news conference Thursday, referring to the number of people who search online and elsewhere for opportunities to prey on minors.

“The simple fact we made six arrests in Moorhead and 12 arrests in Fargo for people coming to have sex with children is sickening, appalling and disgusting,” Todd said, adding that the success of the sting indicates there are likely many young people in the Fargo-Moorhead area who are being victimized in secret.

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“It also tells me we have many silent victims of sexual abuse by sexual predators that we don’t know about,” he said. "We have a human trafficking problem in our community."

The sting was the largest-scale operation targeting sex trafficking in Fargo-Moorhead in recent history, said Fargo police Lt. Jason Nelson, head of the department’s investigations unit.

Todd and other officials said the sting, the result of a collaboration between local, state and federal agencies, was modeled on a federal initiative called “Guardian Angel,” which helps various agencies coordinate their efforts to attack crimes against children.

In Cass County, 12 men were being held Thursday afternoon pending charges relating to patronizing a minor for commercial sexual activity.

In Clay County, six men arrested in Moorhead on Tuesday, June 28, were charged Thursday with a variety of counts relating to soliciting sexual contact with minors.

The six charged in Clay County District Court are: Billy J. Huber, 48, Fargo; Steven A. Breker, 62, West Fargo; Dawda Jeng, 27, Moorhead; Benjamin P. Armstrong-Allason, 20, Fargo; Leroy M. LaFrance, 36, Fargo; and Michael D. Douville, 49, Litchfield, N.H.

The 12 being held in Cass County, according to information released at the news conference, are: Logan M. Bartlett, 28, Timber Lake, S.D.; Nicholas J. Davison, 40, Lisbon, N.D.; Timothy M. Erickson, 46, Doon, Iowa; Corey J. Gibbs, 27, St. Louis; James R. Heily, 28, West Fargo; Christopher B. Highness, 35, Moorhead; Jesse L. Janke, 29, Fargo; Thomas A. Manning, 54, Thief River Falls, Minn.; Michael D. Moore, 27, Fargo; Brandon W. Murch, who turns 30 on Friday, July 1, Hunter, N.D.; Miguel A. Rodriguez DeLaCruz, 23, Fargo; and Anjelo S. Shepherd, 20, West Fargo.

Todd said the Fargo Police Department has three people who are assigned to work on crimes against children and the workload they face is daunting.

The same is true in Moorhead, according to Deputy Police Chief Shannon Monroe, who said the two people assigned to child sex crimes “have overwhelming caseloads and a difficult assignment that really seems to burn out the people who work in those areas.”

Monroe said it is a sign that, “Our growing community is having the issue of growing crime problems in areas we haven’t seen in the past.”

Officials said the sting involved placing ads on websites and mobile apps through which contact with suspects was made. The apps included Grindr and Whisper, and the websites included Craigslist.com and Backpage.com, Nelson said.

Though apps and websites used to make contacts with minors often requires users to be at least 18 years old, it’s not difficult to thwart such requirements, Nelson said.

“We all know that people have ways to get around those,” he said.

Suspects would then show up at local hotels expecting to find minors to have sex with, officials said, though they declined to get into more detail as to how the investigation was handled.

In the course of the operation, police made contact with 159 people, Nelson said. Others who officers communicated with could still face charges, he said.

Officials said one man arrested this week, Brandon Murch, was a registered Level II sex offender.

Cass County State’s Attorney Birch Burdick said it is possible some of the men arrested in Fargo will be charged under a new statute called patronizing a minor for commercial sexual activity, which he said may be the first time someone has been charged under the statute in Cass County.