A man from southwest Missouri’s Branson is expected to be sentenced to 120 days in a Minnesota adult detention facility, after pleading guilty to offering to hire minors for sex during Super Bowl week.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s office in Minnesota tells Missourinet 33-year-old Justin Beard pleaded guilty this week to one count of prostitution of children under 16.
Prosecutors say Beard was in town to work the Super Bowl, and was arrested after responding to a Craigslist ad that had been placed by a sex-trafficking taskforce.
Prosecutors say Beard responded to the ad and texted a number, thinking he was talking to a man trafficking a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy.
He was actually communicating with undercover agents, according to authorities.
“Mr. Beard is an example of how this office and police now deal with commercial sex operations,” County Attorney Mike Freeman announced in a news release. “Our focus is on the people who are behind the trafficking and sometimes setting up electronic stings targeting people like Mr. Beard who want to go after our children. We believe this approach is more effective and humane than going after the sex workers, who we consider to be victims.”
The County Attorney’s office tells Missourinet the adult detention facility is essentially a workhouse.
Beard will be sentenced on July 10 in Minnesota.
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