Native Sun News Today: Authorities target traffickers during Sturgis rally

Thursday, September 3, 2020  

Part I: Native Sun News Today: Native women lead 70-mile ride for #MMIW #MMIWG #MMI2S

STURGIS – As if to stress the points that advocates for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirits (MMIWG2) publicized at the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a joint federal-state-county sting collared eight men during an undercover sex trafficking bust conducted here at the time.

Charged in the August 7-13 rally op are Robert Lee Goodwill, Jr., 20, Rapid City (Attempted Commercial Sex Trafficking of a Minor); Cody Wayne Hopkins, 29, Montgomery, Penn. (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet); Michael Ray Hudson, 32, Rapid City (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet); Travis John McDonald, 28, Rapid City (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet); William Nicholas Riley, 60, Sturgis (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet; Kevin William Clements, 22, Claysville, Pennsylvania ( Attempted Commercial Sex Trafficking of a Minor); Darren Wilber Harrison, 25, Rapid City (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet); and (Christopher Covey Dale Truax, 33, Rapid City (Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet).

In related arrests made during the two previous annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rallies, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Viken sentenced Kenneth Williamson, 52, of Rapid City, and Conner Harmon, 22, of Sturgis, for Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced Aug. 24. Each was sentenced to five years in federal prison, followed by supervised release.

In the 2019 sex trafficking sting operation, which focused on internet predators, Williamson was federally indicted following multiple chats and text messages with a person he believed to be a 15- year-old girl, but who was in fact a secret agent.  Williamson requested sexually explicit images from the agent and proceeded to negotiate the time and place he would meet the supposed minor to engage in unlawful sex acts.  When Williamson went to the pre-determined location to meet the subject, he was instead met by law enforcement officers and placed under arrest, according to authorities.

 Harmon was arrested in a 2018 rally sex trafficking operation and federally indicted following multiple chats and text messages with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but who was in fact an undercover agent.  Harmon proceeded to negotiate the time and place he would meet the supposed minor to engage in unlawful sex acts.  When he went to the pre-determined location to meet the subject, he was instead met by law enforcement officer and placed under arrest, authorities said.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted this year’s operation.

Native women motorcyclists led the Sturgis Medicine Wheel Ride 2020 during the rally to raise awareness about the crisis resulting from failure to protect populations vulnerable to human trafficking and mete out justice to lawbreakers.

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Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com

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