13 arrested in prostitution sting

From left to right: Hugo Vicente Torres, Luz Maricela Holdsworth Vining, Walter Samir Pineda-Lopez, Julian Norris Turnipseed, Stevie Dienelle Brown, Donald James Lyle, Michael Wayne Alexander, Chiquita Rene Frazier, Daris Darnell Ridley, Tauran Lamont Prichett, Yaphett Jackson, Tony Randall Hortman and Daryel Donnell McGarnett were arrested in a prostitution sting in Hall County. (Credit: Channel 2 Action News via the Hall County Sheriff's Office)

From left to right: Hugo Vicente Torres, Luz Maricela Holdsworth Vining, Walter Samir Pineda-Lopez, Julian Norris Turnipseed, Stevie Dienelle Brown, Donald James Lyle, Michael Wayne Alexander, Chiquita Rene Frazier, Daris Darnell Ridley, Tauran Lamont Prichett, Yaphett Jackson, Tony Randall Hortman and Daryel Donnell McGarnett were arrested in a prostitution sting in Hall County. (Credit: Channel 2 Action News via the Hall County Sheriff's Office)

More than a dozen people were arrested in a prostitution sting in Hall County, the sheriff’s office said Monday.

Authorities on Friday set up shop along Friendship Road in Buford, where men and women were looking for or selling sex, Hall sheriff’s spokesman Don Scalia said.

“We had some specific information on criminal activity of this nature in the general area,” he said.

Officials posed as prostitutes or panderers to make the arrests, Scalia said.

In all, 13 people were arrested on various charges that included pimping and possession of marijuana. Scalia identified them as:

Michael Wayne Alexander, charged with pandering;

Stevie Dienelle Brown, charged with pandering and possession of marijuana;

Chiquita Rene Frazier, charged with prostitution;

Tony Randall Hortman, charged with pandering;

Yaphett Jackson, charged with pandering;

Donald James Lyle, charged with pandering and possession of marijuana;

Daryel Donnell McGarnett, charged with pandering, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, and possession of marijuana;

Walter Samir Pineda-Lopez, charged with pimping;

Tauran Lamont Prichett, charged with pandering and possession of marijuana;

Daris Darnell Ridley, charged with prostitution;

Hugo Vicente Torres, charged with pandering;

Julian Norris Turnipseed, charged with pandering;

and Luz Maricela Holdsworth Vining, charged with prostitution.

The sheriff’s office tries to set up a few stings each year, Scalia said.

“Once contact is made and probable cause is established,” he said, “the arrest is effected as quickly as possible.”

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