Nine men have been arrested and indicted for commercial sex trafficking during the 2013 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which ended on Sunday, August 11, 2013.
A press release issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today stated that the United States Attorney, District of South DakotaBrendan V. Johnson announced that the arrests were a result of investigations by the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
According to the release, “all the defendants allegedly negotiated with law enforcement agents posing as pimps and agreed to pay for sex with underage girls ranging from 12-15 years of age.”
Five of the defendants, including Jerry Lane Golliher, 31, of Rapid City, Eric D. Murphy, 27, of Rapid City, John Miller, 24, of Rapid City, James Eugene Larive Jr., 42, of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, Curtis Ray Austin, 20, of Rapid City, were from South Dakota while four others, including Michael Francis Fox Jr., 43, of Owings Mills, Maryland, Scott B. Falk, 29, of Kenai, Alaska, Timothy Charles Gravens, 54, of Grapevine, Texas, Miguel Angel Aguilar, 19, of Brighton, Colorado were from other states.
Falk, Fox, Gravens, and Aguilar are in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and are scheduled to make an initial appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge in Rapid City today. The remaining defendants will be taken into federal custody and will be making an initial appearance at a future date.
The crime of commercial sex trafficking carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10-15 years in prison up to a life maximum, and/or a $250,000 fine. The mandatory minimum prison sentence is determined by the age of the victim.
The undercover operation and arrests were a joint effort between the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rapid City Police Department, and the Pennington County Sheriff’s office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Collins is prosecuting the cases.
The release further noted that the charges were merely accusations, and that the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.