U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin announces the unsealing of a 24-count indictment at the Federal Courthouse in Nashville.

Federal agents have dismantled a multi-state prostitution ring involving teenaged girls and Somali gangs. The sex trafficking operation ran through Nashville.

The 29 individuals named in the indictment are accused of recruiting girls as young as 13 to be prostitutes. They shuttled the teenagers from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Columbus, Ohio, and to Nashville, where they worked out of apartments and motels along Murfreesboro Pike.

All of the gang members were in the country legally. Most were from St. Paul – a city that has one of the largest Somali communities in the country. U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin cautions these charges are unrelated to Somalis suspected of terrorist involvement.

“This case is not an indictment of national origin. This case is an indictment of men who trafficked young girls into this district for prostitution.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton calls the case one of the more significant sex trafficking investigations in recent memory.

“Obviously the number of defendants, the number of states, the movement, that there were repeated victims, repeated commercial sex acts that were alleged in the indictment, gives you an indication of the size of the case.”

Aside from prostitution, the men are also charged with theft and credit card fraud. Most of the defendants are now in federal custody.