A total of 16 people were taken into custody over the weekend as mart of a multijurisdictional sting operation targeting sex crimes. 

And the majority of those that were booked and processed in San Joaquin County Jail by San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department deputies and Manteca Police officers were charged with a handful of felonies including contacting a minor 14 years of age of younger for the purpose of sex. 

Using a hotel in Lathrop as a base of operations and a decoy center, Lathrop Police Services partnered with the Manteca Police Department to post ads on a website that was popular with those looking to solicit prostitution – including ads that were intentionally vague as to the age of the person posting it.

When contacted by text message, email, or phone, the decoy deputies identified themselves as either a 14-year-old boy or girl from the area, and in my cases, continued to receive messages from people who were interested in proceeding further. 

Arrested and charged with felony counts of arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purposes and other related crimes were:

Manriquez Guadalupe Moreno, 43.

Ashtin Raj, 24.

Nagendra Tripathi, 42. 

Ray Wilson-Mclaughlin, 29.

Herbert Proffit, 65.

Eduardo Hermosillo, 25.

Frank Ayala Jr., 25. 

Allen Wears, 39. 

Tommy Schiff, 69. 

Also arrested for solicitation of a prostitute – which happened to be an undercover decoy – were:

Tarunep Singh, 27. 

Ali Mesallem, 24. 

Megan Howard, 24. 

Luis Alberto Flores, 44.

Jose Ochoa, 38. 

Willie Barnett, 46.

Martin Logan, 42.

While deputies used a Lathrop hotel as their base of operations, officials were quick to point out that the hotel was not complicit in any way in the actions of the men that were arrested and was not known specifically for the type of activity that they were looking to eradicate from the community with this law enforcement operation. 

A total of nine vehicles were impounded as part of the operation including a 53-foot tractor-trailer driven by Proffit that was loaded full of macaroni. 

According to officials, thousands of text messages were sent as part of the week-long sting operation that yielded more arrests for contacting a minor for lewd purposes than any that were previously carried out by the agencies participating. 

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.