© Knox County Sheriff's Office / Facebook
A trafficking ring in Tennessee was busted, leading to the arrest of nearly three dozen men, including the pastor of a children's ministry. He has since lost his job at Grace Baptist and is charged with human trafficking and patronizing prostitution.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Friday that
32 people have been arrested in connection with a Knoxville human trafficking ring. Among them were Jason Kennedy,
a children's minister at the Grace Baptist Church in Karns, Tennessee, and Zubin Parakh,
a volunteer creative pastor at the Lifehouse Church in Oak Ridge, WBIR
reported.
Kennedy, 46, and Parakh, 32, were caught in a three-day operation in which undercover agents posted ads on Backpage.com, a common site for escorts.
Kennedy and Parakh were both charged with trafficking after specifically seeking out sex with an underage girl,
according to KGW.
Kennedy is facing a Class A trafficking charge and, if found guilty, could spend between 15 and 60 years behind bars and have to pay a $50,000 fine. He is currently in a county jail with bond set at $50,500.
According to WLTV, Kennedy responded via text to an ad placed by an undercover agent. He then received a text back in which he was made aware that two underage girls would be present. He haggled with the agents and finally agreed on a price of $100 for half an hour of sex with both of the girls.
Comment: The Indian government should be less concerned with being a puppet of the US, and more concerned with what's going on in its own backyard.