ST. PETER – Seven men were charged with gross misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution in a public place in Nicollet County District Court Wednesday.

The 10 men charged as a result of a multi-jurisdictional agency human trafficking sting operation at a North Mankato hotel along U.S. Highway 169 included Travis R. Kernin, 24, St. Peter; Travis R. Bauleke, 37, Waseca; Chad J. Ludewig, 35, Good Thunder, Andrew J. Novak, Le Center; Tom R. Kosak, 58, New Ulm; John M. Smisek, 48, Faribault; and Ryan J. Cotton, 21, North Mankato.

In addition on Monday, Jay A. Wiederhoeft, 54, Fairmont; and Jose S. Velazue, 27, Statesboro, Ga., were both charged with felony solicitation of prostitution in a public place; and Victor M. Castillo, 58, Copperas Cove, Texas, was charged with gross misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution in a public place. Wiederhoeft and Valezue face felony charges for being involved with a minor, according to Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Marc Chadderdon.

“Nicollet and Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office personnel, North Mankato and Mankato police spent about six hours on the investigation on Friday, June 12,” said Chadderdon who did not disclose the name of the hotel involved in the sting operation.

“All hotels have been very cooperative with us,” he added. “All the hotel owners want to see prostitution eradicated. Quite frankly, it’s been going on in many hotels in the area.”

Chadderdon said he attended a human trafficking training session hosted by Twin Cities metro area law enforcement and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) last fall. “We were challenged to advertise online in hopes of finding juveniles and adult women involved with this (human trafficking) lifestyle and finding guys involved with them.”

He explained that prostitution in a hotel is a gross misdemeanor and a felony in a park or school zone or if a person having sex is a juvenile. “There are legal resources including food and shelter available for women in prostitution. We want to get girls and women out of this lifestyle, so we’re teaming up with other agencies to do that,” Chadderdon said. “We’re advising men not to answer online prostitution ads. If they knock on hotel doors, it may be us on the other side.”

Chadderdon said area law enforcement wants to make the public aware of just how active the area prostitution market is. “Not long after we place an online ad, the cellphone starts ringing and texts come in,” he explained. “We want to make the public aware of this. We recently held a community presentation about it in St. James and 80 people showed up. It’s not just prostitution either. These ads can lead us to people selling and buying drugs plus human labor trafficking. Guys will call us about their wallet being stolen by women who came to their residence for prostitution, the guy went to take a shower and later found he was ripped off.”

Chadderdon said law enforcement will host meetings to train hotel personnel on what things to look for from people involved with prostitution and drugs. “Those customers often pay for room with cash and have little or no baggage. You will hear more about this in the future as we move to other area communities.”

Chadderdon urged businesses, groups and others interested in law enforcement providing human trafficking training to them to contact him at the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office at 507-931-1570.

Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.