Five people were arrested over the last few days and charged with misdemeanor counts of prostitution in a human trafficking operation by multiple law enforcement agencies.

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said law enforcement officers posted ads on various websites soliciting sex and arrested those who responded. in what he called a human trafficking operation.

Four are men who would be considered ‘johns,’ Slaughter said, and the fifth was a woman offering herself.

Law enforcement did not pose as minors in any of the ads, Slaughter said.

The misdemeanor prostitution charge is a provision of Montana Code Annotated and can be read here in full.

It’s a similar operation to those that were conducted by the Great Falls Police Department in the past.

Slaughter said that in the past when he ran these types of operations at the GFPD, they’d get numerous responses quickly.

This time, there were fewer.

Slaughter said he attributes that to public awareness campaigns, increased law enforcement focus on human trafficking and the federal shutdown of Backpage.com.

Sex trafficking website seized, Great Falls police continue monitoring web for illegal activity

The operation was financed in part by additional funds granted by the Legislature through the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Justice for human trafficking investigations, as well as CCSO’s grant allocation from DCI for that work.

The DCI funding recently added by the Legislature covers overtime, hotel rooms and other incidental costs that would otherwise be tough to cover with the regular budget, Slaughter said.

The operation was a collaborative effort by CCSO, GFPD, DCI, the Cascade County Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Slaughter said law enforcement works with the county attorney’s office to ensure they don’t have entrapment issues with these types of operations.

He also said the mix of agencies allows them to catch human traffickers despite jurisdictional lines.

“You can’t run from us,” Slaughter said.

During the two day operation, the following five people were arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of prostitution:

• Terry Francis McCann, 41, released on her own recognizance
• Paul George Waldner, 48, bonded out on a $585 bond
• David Komesu Javner, 28, released on his own recognizance
• Kurt Alan Anderson, 50, released on his own recognizance
• Mark William Brothers, 59,  $585 bond

The bond or release on their own recognizance was related to their likelihood to appear for court, Slaughter said. The bonds were issued for those from out of town, he said.

Slaughter said the operation was timed to coincide with the fair since “any large gathering often attracts this kind of behavior.”

Chief Deputy Attorney General Jon Bennion, who observed the Cascade County operation, said in a release that, “the Montana Department of Justice is pleased to support local law enforcement agencies with these kind of operations. We are grateful to legislators who worked during this past session to provide dedicated funding for local agencies and support staff at our Division of Criminal Investigation to assist and coordinate on human trafficking cases in local communities. This is the first time the funding has been used and we are pleased with the multi-agency collaboration and success of this weekend’s operation.”

Detectives are now following up on leads from this operation and a search warrant that was executed at Touch of Class Massage Parlor. That is an ongoing investigation and Slaughter said more information would be released when the investigation is complete.