Yellowstone County

FBI and Billings area law enforcement battle human trafficking – KTVQ
|

FBI and Billings area law enforcement battle human trafficking – KTVQ

BILLINGS – Federal officials warned the public Monday of a continuing crisis, human trafficking, in Montana. They met to raise awareness about the prevalence of the issue and to have more people tackling the problem. Human trafficking happens every day in Billings, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI. So they made a…

Human trafficker sentenced to life in prison following DCI investigation
|

Human trafficker sentenced to life in prison following DCI investigation

Press release from the Montana Attorney General’s Office HELENA – A Billings man was sentenced today to life in prison for kidnapping minors, transporting a person for illegal sexual activity, and drug trafficking and firearms crimes following an investigation by the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). “As a result of the…

| | |

Billings man sentenced to five years in prison for sending nude picture of himself to fictitious girl in undercover operation

BILLINGS  — A Billings man who admitted to sending a nude picture of himself to a fictitious girl during an undercover sting operation was sentenced today to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Martin Leo Jimenez, 28, pleaded guilty in May to attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that in October 2021, law enforcement was conducting an undercover sting investigation to identify and arrest individuals who were attempting to have sex with children. Jimenez responded to an undercover post and began to correspond with a fictitious mother to arrange for a sexual encounter with the mother’s fictitious 11-year-old daughter. During electronic communications with the undercover officer, Jimenez offered that he had “no age limits,” sent a nude picture of himself and discussed the various sexual acts he wanted to perform on the fictitious girl. The parties made plans to meet, and law enforcement arrested Jimenez when he arrived at the location. Jimenez later acknowledged that he intended to have sex with the mother and daughter.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Billings Police Department, Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office and Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office.

XXX

Get CyberSEO Lite (https://www.cyberseo.net/cyberseo-lite) – a freeware full-text RSS article import plugin for WordPress.

Montana Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force receives national FBI award
|

Montana Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force receives national FBI award

Regional FBI officials presented the Yellowstone County Area Human Trafficking Task Force with a Director’s Community Leadership Award on behalf of FBI Director Christopher Wray. Members of the task force’s steering committee accepted the award, including co-chairs Stephanie Baucus and Penny Ronning; board members Scott Koch, Melanie Tripp, and Erin Walker; and steering committee members…

FBI Honors Yellowstone County Area Human Trafficking Task Force with Director's …
|

FBI Honors Yellowstone County Area Human Trafficking Task Force with Director's …

Special Agent in Charge Dennis Rice is pleased to announce the Yellowstone County Area Human Trafficking Task Force as the recipient of the 2021 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for the Salt Lake City Division. Each year, FBI field offices nominate individuals or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding contributions to their communities through service….

Sex trafficking problem entrenched in Montana, officials say
| | | | | | | |

Sex trafficking problem entrenched in Montana, officials say

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A woman made a call from a Billings motel room sometime in 2016. She called her family, telling them that over the past several days a man had forced her to be raped for money by other men in Billings, Missoula and Salt Lake City. The man controlling her was Terrance Tyrell…