No. 6: Police arrest 6 men in 2 child trafficking busts
Suspects' cases ongoing in court system
Bradley Massman, Editor
In this Aug. 25, 2021 Pioneer file photo, Mecosta County Sheriff Brian Miller (at the podium) discusses a human trafficking sting operation that took place in July.
Pioneer file photo
The Pioneer is looking back at its Top 10 stories of 2021. This is No. 6...
MECOSTA COUNTY — Through a mutual effort, and on two separate occasions, authorities arrested six men who each individually came to the Mecosta County area to allegedly have sex with a minor.
In August, Genesee County Sheriff Christopher R. Swanson visited the Big Rapids area to lead a news conference about child trafficking in Michigan and details on a then-recent sting in Mecosta County.
Swanson briefed the press on the Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team, GHOST, which uses a number of undercover officers online pretending to be underaged children in order to catch predators.
Together, Swanson and Mecosta County Sheriff Brian Miller worked together to perform a sting operation locally in July.
As a result of a July 15, 2021 sting, three men were arrested — Quinn Lee Rasmussen, of Big Rapids; Sonage Azard, of Grand Rapids; and Joshua Jeffrey Webb, of Lakeview.
In connection to those arrests, authorities alleged all three men came to the Mecosta County area looking to have sex with a 14- to 15-year-old girl.
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Less than four months later, Mecosta County authorities made three more arrests in a second child trafficking sting.
In this instance, all three suspects — who were all from Big Rapids — individually traveled to a Big Rapids Township location with the intentions of having sexual intercourse with a minor juvenile.
Jeremy Ostrander, Randall Pion, and Austin Donley were arrested and charged for their alleged actions.
In the court system, Azard and Webb each await appearances in Mecosta County's 49th Circuit Court in January while Rasmussen has admitted guilt through a plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January.
The cases against Ostrander, Pion and Donley remain in Mecosta County's 77th District Court.
Bradley Massman
Bradley Massman graduated from Central Michigan University in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He received first place awards for Best Investigative Reporting and Best Column from the Associated Press.