Agents posing online as young girls and women helped lead investigators in Tennessee to the arrests of nearly three dozen people, including two ministers, this month, part of an intensified yearlong effort to combat prostitution and human trafficking in minors.

The two ministers had responded to ads on backpage.com, a website often used to solicit sex partners, placed by what they believed to be a 15-year-old girl, and were charged with felony human trafficking and prostitution, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement issued last Friday.

In addition, 25 men were arrested on charges of promoting prostitution, a felony, or patronizing a prostitute, which is a misdemeanor. Five women were cited for prostitution, the statement said.

This sting, called “Operation Someone Like Me,” was the fifth effort of its kind since Gov. Bill Haslam signed legislation into law in May 2015 giving jurisdiction over trafficking cases to Tennessee’s bureau of investigation. The 32 arrested this month represent the largest group yet, an assistant special agent in charge, Margie Quin, said on Thursday.