Lee University basketball player arrested in police sting
Operation Temptation booking photos
Source: Bradley County Sheriff's Office
A Lee University basketball player was recently arrested in a sting conducted by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.
Cameron Megail High, 22, was arrested in Cleveland, Tennessee for solicitation of prostitution. High could not be reached for comment.
Mike Hayes, vice president for student development, said that the university “received information that the charges against this person were dismissed by the judge and withdrawn by the D.A.” He also said that High was removed from the basketball team.
“As a matter of policy, we cannot comment on an individual student’s educational record, including any discipline responses,” Hayes said.
The sting, called “Operation Temptation,” began in Dec. 2016 and led to the arrests of several people for various prostitution, drug and criminal charges. Several of the suspects offered to exchange drugs for sexual favors, not just money, according to a media release.
James Bradford, the director of public relations for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, said that the covert operation specifically targeted prostitution and human trafficking by placing false ads on a “website frequently used for prostitution activity.”
“We know that [human trafficking] exists in our community and what we’re trying to do is proactively combat that so that it doesn’t get so out of hand,” Bradford said. “The thing about prostitution and human trafficking is that they incorporate a lot of criminal activity.”
Charges against suspects who were arrested this month for their illegal activities include eight people for prostitution, eight people for patronizing prostitution, four people for solicitation of prostitution, and one person for promotion of prostitution.
Twelve out of the twenty-one people arrested for their activities in prostitution also face additional drug-offense charges. Two additional arrests were made during the operation for a person wanted on a Hamilton County criminal warrant and another person who was charged with criminal impersonation, according to the release.
While “Operation Temptation” has ended, Bradford said that the Sheriff’s Office will “continuously have operations to combat prostitution and human trafficking.”
Sierra Smith, a junior psychology student and president of the Cleveland Against Sex Trafficking club, said she hopes High’s arrest will be an “eye-opening realization” to the work that needs to be done on campus to combat sex trafficking.
“I was hurt about probably the shame that [High] is carrying and what this means for his future,” Smith said. “But being where we stand, we recognize that prostitution is highly connected to sex trafficking and they often go hand in hand, so this is not something that we can support.”
Smith said that the mission of C.A.S.T. is to bring more education and awareness about sex trafficking to campus and the surrounding community. She hopes that the club, especially in light of High’s arrest, can facilitate more discussions and be a greater resource to work towards eliminating sex trafficking.
“You get rid of the demand by raising up a generation of people that decide that it’s no longer ok to buy sex,” Smith said. “In light of what happened, I cannot say that all of the people on campus know that, and so work needs to be done.”
Here are the arrests and charges made during “Operation Temptation”:
• Derwin Pershun Mosbey, 28, from Cordova, TN - Promotion of Prostitution, Possession of Stolen Property over $1,000, Schedule I for Resale, Schedule II for Resale, Schedule IV for Resale, and Schedule VI for Resale
• London Rene Pierce, 19, from Memphis, TN - Prostitution, Possession of Stolen Property over $1,000, Schedule I for Resale, Schedule II for Resale, Schedule IV for Resale, and Schedule VI for Resale
• Jerome Arthur Uffner, 55, from Marietta, GA - Solicitation of Prostitution
• Thomas Adam Franklin, 35, from Cleveland, TN - Solicitation of Prostitution
• Cameron Megail High, 22, from Cleveland, TN - Solicitation of Prostitution
• Dean Wilson, 52, from Chattanooga, TN - Solicitation of Prostitution
• Tineisha Norelle Wilkes, 25, from Riverdale, GA - Prostitution
• Adrianna Bronte-Nicole Jones, 22, from Allen, TX - Prostitution and Possession of Schedule IV
• Ashley Marie Negron, 24, from Dayton, TN - Prostitution
• Kenneth Dale Roberts, 58, from Ringgold, GA - Patronizing Prostitution and Delivery of Methamphetamine
• Gary Claude Hilliard, 51, from McDonald, TN - Patronizing Prostitution and Delivery of Schedule VI
• Christopher John-Melvin Rogers, 38, from Lake City, FL - Patronizing Prostitution, Delivery of Methamphetamine, and Delivery of Schedule VI
• Jonathan Allen Torbett, 38, from Delano, TN - Patronizing Prostitution, Delivery of Methamphetamine, and Drug Paraphernalia
• Steven Edward Turner, Jr., 25, from Cleveland, TN - Patronizing Prostitution, Possession of Legend Drugs, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Drug Paraphernalia
• David Wayne Jaynes, 28, from Cleveland, TN - Prostitution
• Nathan Jackson Thorpe, 32, from Cleveland, TN - Patronizing Prostitution
• Elise Victoria Wiley, 21, from Cleveland, TN - Prostitution
• Dusty Lee-Ray Scott, 34, from Rossville, GA - Patronizing Prostitution, Prohibited Weapon, Delivery of Methamphetamine, and Drug Paraphernalia
• Tamiko Leeshay Anderson, 21, from Chattanooga, TN - Prostitution, Possession of Schedule IV, and Possession of Schedule VI
• Danielle Tierra Hubbard, 21, from Chattanooga, TN - Prostitution, Possession of Schedule II, and Possession of Schedule VI
• Jonathan Scott Culpepper, 38, from East Ridge, TN - Patronizing Prostitution, Delivery of Methamphetamine, Delivery of Schedule VI, and Drug Paraphernalia
• O’Brian Dashon Smith, 55, from Cleveland, TN - Criminal Impersonation
• Jessica Holiday, 30 - Outstanding criminal warrant from Hamilton County, TN
Source: Bradley County Sheriff's Office
