4 waive hearings in prostitution case

12/4/2009

SWANTON - Four men arrested during a nationwide underage-sex-trade sting waived preliminary hearings in Fulton County Eastern District Court yesterday, and Judge Colin McQuade ordered their cases bound over to the county's Common Pleas Court.

Another man who was charged, Francisco Baltazar, 32, who shared a house with the men at 6632 County Road E near Delta, was found guilty of misdemeanor soliciting, amended from a felony count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Mr. Baltazar, 32, was sentenced to 60 days in jail with credit for time served.

Bound over to the Fulton County Common Pleas Court were Ismaiel Pachico, 35, charged with sexual conduct with a person under the age of 16, and Mezia Sinforiano, 61; Pablo Trigueros, 60, and Wilmar Velasquez Bravo, 20, charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

The property where the men lived is across the road from Keil Farm. A Toledo woman who said she is the girlfriend of Mr. Baltazar said he and some others arrested during the sting worked at the farm.

Earlier this week, Jose Fransisco Jimenez-Jimenez, 29, who is charged with pandering obscenity involving a minor, was bound over to the Fulton County Common Pleas Court. When arrested, Mr. Jimenez-Jimenez was living near Fayette in a farmhouse on a property owned by Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development. He had been terminated from his job at a nearby dairy farm shortly before the arrest.

The men are being held in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio near Stryker.

Operation Cross Country IV, a three-day national enforcement action in 36 cities conducted in late October, led to the recovery of 52 children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, 691 people, including pimps, were arrested on state and local charges.

In northwest Ohio, seven child victims were located or identified, four pimps were arrested, and 17 other adults were arrested for involvement in prostitution activities.