NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Police have charged 22 people in a wealthy Nashville, Tennessee, suburb after the men agreed to pay to have sex with underage girls whose online profiles had been created by law enforcement agents, authorities said.

The results of a four-day operation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is the latest major case involving Backpage.com, an online classified site that has been accused of promoting sex trafficking and where the men sought the ads.

The men arrested in the southern U.S. town of Brentwood were charged with prostitution-related charges in what police called a "human trafficking operation."





10 PHOTOS Suspects indicted in human trafficking operation See Gallery Suspects indicted in human trafficking operation An undercover human trafficking operation resulted in mostly felony indictments for 22 men in a targeted effort to identify individuals attempting to purchase illicit sex from minors, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Francisco Badillo 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Ibrahim Demyan 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Luis Gonzalez-Garcia 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution

1 count Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

1 count Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Terry William Garner 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor

1 count Simple Possession of Marijuana

1 count Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Mohamed Hassan 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Jeremiah McSpaddin 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution

1 count Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

1 count Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor

1 count Simple Possession of Marijuana (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Ajay Kumar Mistry 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Jerwon Robinson 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony), 2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor

1 count Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

1 count Simple Possession (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Orozco-Gelacio Navarro 1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class A Felony)

1 count Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Class B Felony)

2 counts Patronizing Prostitution

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Statutory Rape

2 counts Solicitation to Commit Patronizing Prostitution of a Minor (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

They include a computer programmer, an automotive engineer, a construction worker and a chef, the agency said in a statement about the operation conducted last month.

In the online sting, undercover agents posed as 14- and 16-year-old girls in ads on Backpage.com.

Several dozen would-be customers answered the ads, police said at a news conference posted in a Facebook video. Twenty two showed up at a hotel in hopes of meeting the girls for sex, where they were apprehended.

In the United States, sex trafficking is defined as commercial sex induced by force, fraud or coercion, or involving a minor under the age of 18.

RELATED: Human trafficking issues around the world



22 PHOTOS Human and sex trafficking issues around the world See Gallery Human and sex trafficking issues around the world A journalist takes photo of 24 alleged human traffickers' pictures displayed on a board, released by Italian police during a press conference in Palermo on April 20, 2015. AFP PHOTO / MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO (Photo credit should read MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO/AFP/Getty Images) SHAMLAPUR, BANGLADESH - JULY 4: A photograph of Rohingya trafficking victim Mohammad Aiaz is seen July 4, 2015 in Shamlapur, Bangladesh. On March 5, 2015 Aiaz met a man who promised to take him to a good job in Malaysia for free. He left Bangladesh with 13 other Rohingya. A few days after that his mother, Lila Begum, got a phone call from her son saying he was on the ship and that she needed to pay a man in Teknaf 200,000 taka ($2,570) or he would be killed. She managed to pay 175,000 but she has not heard from her son since. In the past months thousands of Rohingya have landed on the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, many of them by way of Bangladesh. The Rohingya pay up to $2,000 to traffickers, and they sail out from Bangladesh's southern coastline on fishing boats to meet larger ships in the deep sea that will take them to Malaysia. UNHCR estimates that there are more than 300,000 Rohingya living in Bangladesh. (Photo by Shazia Rahman/Getty Images) An armed Malaysian policeman checks a driver's documentations a day after the government announced the discovery of camps and graves, the first such sites found in Malaysia since a regional human-trafficking crisis erupted earlier this month, near Malaysia-Thailand borders in Wang Kelian on May 25, 2015. A total of 139 grave sites and 28 human-trafficking camps have been found in a remote northern Malaysian border region, the country's top police official told reporters. AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN (Photo credit should read MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images) Sex workers and sympathizers demonstrate on April 9, 2015 against the closure of window brothels by the municipality in the red light district in Amsterdam. With Project 1012, the Amsterdam wants to close window prostitution to prevent crime, human trafficking and degradation. AFP PHOTO / ANP / ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN - netherlands out - (Photo credit should read ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images) Ivanka Trump speaks during a meeting on action to end modern slavery and human trafficking on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid ATHENS, ATTIKI, GREECE - 2017/10/14: Greek human right activists take part in the 2017 Walk for Freedom event raising awareness about Human Trafficking. (Photo by George Panagakis/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) ATHENS, ATTIKI, GREECE - 2017/10/14: Greek human right activists take part in the 2017 Walk for Freedom event raising awareness about Human Trafficking. (Photo by George Panagakis/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) Human trafficking suspect Patchuban Angchotipan, a former official in the provincial government of the southern province of Satun, arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, November 10, 2015. Eighty-eight human trafficking suspects arrested as part of a crackdown on Thailand's lucrative smuggling and trafficking syndicates were brought before a Bangkok court on Tuesday to start examination of evidence and witnesses ahead of a trial. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha Lieutenant-General Manas Kongpan, a suspected human trafficker, is escorted by officers as he arrives for a hearing at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom Timothy Patrick Deegan, who has been charged with human trafficking after being accused of keeping three women as sex slaves in Gainesville, Florida, is seen in an undated photo released by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office in Gainesville, Florida. Deegan, 53, a Florida certified public accountant, remained behind bars on June 12, 2014, on a $300,000 bond following his arrest on June 6, 2014. REUTERS/Alachua County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW HEADSHOT) ATTENTION EDITORS ? THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson talks about sex traffickers in Iowa and Nebraska during a human trafficking seminar, where opponents of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline expressed concerns that "man camps" created during construction of the pipeline might bring the sex trade to their area in O'Neill, Nebraska, U.S. April 12, 2017. Picture taken April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer, center, and controlling shareholders James Larkin, left, and Michael Lacey, right, listen to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown during a hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017, in Sacramento Superior Court. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images) Japanese national Susumu Fukui (2nd R) is escorted by Cambodian police to the Phnom Penh municipal court in Phnom Penh on February 7, 2017. Fukui, a Japanese restaurant owner accused of overseeing a smuggling ring that forced women into sex work in Japan, was charged with trafficking in Cambodia on February 7, along with his wife and an employee. / AFP / TANG CHHIN Sothy (Photo credit should read TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images) TANGERANG, INDONESIA - AUGUST 16: Suspects of human trafficking arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on August 16, 2016 in Tangerang, Indonesia. 9 Suspects while smuggling 16 people from the sea port promontory hall, North Sumatra province to Malaysia got raided and arrested by police. An estimated 6 million Indonesian laborers (70% of whom are female) work abroad. Many Indonesian workers who have migrated to the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to exploitation. According to the 2013 US Trafficking In Persons Report, Indonesia is a major source country for women, children, and men who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.' PHOTOGRAPH BY Jefta Images / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.comA (Photo credit should read Jefta Images / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) TANGERANG, INDONESIA - AUGUST 16: Suspects of human trafficking arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on August 16, 2016 in Tangerang, Indonesia. 9 Suspects while smuggling 16 people from the sea port promontory hall, North Sumatra province to Malaysia got raided and arrested by police. An estimated 6 million Indonesian laborers (70% of whom are female) work abroad. Many Indonesian workers who have migrated to the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to exploitation. According to the 2013 US Trafficking In Persons Report, Indonesia is a major source country for women, children, and men who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.' PHOTOGRAPH BY Jefta Images / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.comA (Photo credit should read Jefta Images / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) MEWAT, INDIA - MARCH 13: Ghausia Khan a bride trafficking survivor, is a member of the district legal aid authority, Mewat is showing the images of enlisted Paros on March 13, 2014 in Mewat, India. Khan a worker with Empower People, an NGO which deals with trafficking cases and helps women in distress to find lawyers and provides them with legal information and at times, monetary assistance. Trafficked brides are locally known as Paro or Molki (means one who has a price). These are pejorative labels in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh where the skewed sex ratio and entrenched feudalism has resulted in a flourishing trade in women trafficked from the poverty-ridden villages of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The women, who are usually promised marriage, find themselves in places like Mewat where the go-betweens sell them sometimes repeatedly to men who cannot find local women. Cut off from their native states, they are often confined and forced to work as bonded labour or pushed into forced marriages or prostitution. (Photo by Subrata Biswas/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) MEWAT, INDIA - MARCH 13: Ghausia Khan a bride trafficking survivor, is a member of the district legal aid authority, Mewat is showing the images of enlisted Paros on March 13, 2014 in Mewat, India. Khan a worker with Empower People, an NGO which deals with trafficking cases and helps women in distress to find lawyers and provides them with legal information and at times, monetary assistance. Trafficked brides are locally known as Paro or Molki (means one who has a price). These are pejorative labels in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh where the skewed sex ratio and entrenched feudalism has resulted in a flourishing trade in women trafficked from the poverty-ridden villages of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The women, who are usually promised marriage, find themselves in places like Mewat where the go-betweens sell them sometimes repeatedly to men who cannot find local women. Cut off from their native states, they are often confined and forced to work as bonded labour or pushed into forced marriages or prostitution. (Photo by Subrata Biswas/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) A court order is seen hanging with red wax on the main door of the closed Oragon/Sideway club which was used by sex traffickers as a brothel in the area of Zouk Mkayel, north of Beirut on April, 14, 2016. Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images) A general view shows the three-story Chez Maurice Hotel, which was used by sex traffickers as a brothel, in the Maameltein district of the coastal town of Jounieh, north of Beirut on April, 14, 2016. Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images) A Syrian sex trafficking victim is seen making coffee in the kitchen of her safehouse at an undisclosed location in Lebanon on April 13, 2016, after she fled a brothel in Lebanon where she was being held captive. Lebanese security forces busted a sex trafficking ring involving 75 Syrian women trafficked to Lebanon from their country and forced into prostitution. / AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images) Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Billboard showing the effects of sex slavery in the United States. (Photo by: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images) DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 13: FBI officials announced that 20 underage victims were recovered and 7 pimps arrested in Colorado and Wyoming as part of a national Operation Cross CountryIX. At the Denver FBI headquarters on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler (second from left) cranes around to see the video display of sex traffickers and their recent sentences. Left to right: Dawn Weber Second Judicial District Chief Deputy District Attorney in charge of Cold Case Unit & Human Trafficking Unit Brauchler , and 18th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Cara Morlan. (Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images ) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

CURBING DEMAND

The sting operation was an attempt at curbing sex-trafficking demand, authorities said, an aspect of modern-day slavery advocates say is neglected by police who often focus on arresting trafficked victims coerced into prostitution.

"This is, without a doubt, a demand-driven crime," said Jason Locke, deputy director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"Quite simply, we need men to expect more from themselves," he told reporters on Thursday.

Backpage.com, a classified advertising website where the ads were posted, has faced scrutiny from the U.S. Senate over allegations that it facilitates sex trafficking, especially of children, in its ads.

In trafficking lawsuits filed against it, the company has repeatedly triumphed by arguing it is hosting content, not creating it, and is protected from liability by a federal law that protects free speech, the Communications Decency Act.

But a bill seeking to amend the law to make it easier to sue operators of websites that facilitate online sex trafficking has made headway in the U.S. Senate this week.

The federal Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act was approved in committee, opening the way for a possible vote by the full Senate.

Anti-slavery group Polaris says it has received reports of more than 22,000 sex-trafficking cases in the United States over the last decade. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo @sebastienmalo, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)