3 charged in human-trafficking sting plead not guilty

The trio each were initially held on $500,000 cash or surety bond when they were charged in Huron County 73B District Court in July. In the week following their arrests, that bond was lowered to $10,000 cash or surety, allowing the three men to each post a $1,000 bond and be released from the Huron County Jail.

On Monday, Huron County Prosecutor Tim Rutkowski asked 52nd Circuit Court Judge Gerald M. Prill to raise the defendants' bonds back to the initial amount of $500,000 cash or surety.

Prill declined to comment on the decision by the district court to lower the initial bond, but agreed with Rutkowski that the seriousness of their charges warranted a higher amount. Prill then set bond at $100,000 for each of the defendants, citing “the significant threat to the community at large.”

Pre-trial hearings for each of the defendants were scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 14.

Horetski, Susalla and Manor were taken into custody on July 12 during an operation involving members of the Huron, Genesee, Tuscola and Sanilac sheriffs' offices, the Bad Axe Police Department, the Sanilac County Drug Task Force and the FBI, as well as the Huron County Prosecutor's Office.

Deputies from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office GHOST team coordinated and directed the sting with support from the other agencies involved and the FBI. The 10-hour operation was based in an undisclosed location where team members used internet sex and prostitution sites.

The suspects literally “shopped” at the sites, according to a task force press release, then communicated with who they believed were minors and arranged a meeting for sex. The “minors” were, in fact, members of the GHOST team.

Officers set up a meeting place at a Bad Axe hotel, where young law enforcement officers acted as decoys as the suspects arrived and were taken into custody.

According to the task force, all three suspects acknowledged their intentions during post-arrest interviews, with two admitting they sought sex with underage females and the other stating he sought sex with an underage male.

Officers seized several items, including cell phones, cash and vehicles, which may be subject to forfeiture.

Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson said in July the sting resulted from a 2021 operation in Sanilac County that led to the arrest of Alexander S. Kundinger, 26, of Sandusky. With the assistance of Genesee County Chris Swanson and the Genessee County GHOST team, or Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team, law enforcement officials in Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties partnered to form their own task force to target human trafficking and child predators.

The tri-county task force consisting of Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties plans to conduct similar operations in the future, and Hanson asked Thumb residents to be on the lookout and report suspicious situations that may involve human trafficking to their local law enforcement agency.