A two-day undercover operation by special agents with the TBI’s Human Trafficking Unit, the Sweetwater Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the 10th Judicial District Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, and the office of 10th District Attorney General Steve Crump has resulted in the arrest of several men accused of seeking illicit sex from minors.

Authorities placed several decoy advertisements known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases. As a result of the operation, authorities arrested the following and booked them into the Monroe County Jail:

• Anthony Cornelius Baylis, age 37, Harriman: Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act
• Matthew Jason Cohen, age 42, Maryville: Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act
• James Stephen Stinnett, age 37, Madisonville: Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act
• Joshua James Thomas, age 32, Tellico Plains: Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act
• Pedro Juan Berenguer Torres, age 50, Powell: Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act
• Steven Lawrence Kobylski, age 33, Decatur: Soliciting Sexual Exploitation of a Minor