Twelve men were arrested during an undercover operation targeting people accused of trying to buy sex, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced Friday. The sting played out Thursday, October 29, 2026, in the Warrensville Heights area, and investigators say they identified seven potential victims of human trafficking in the process.
The operation was carried out by agents with the Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, according to wtrf.com. All 12 men were charged in Bedford Municipal Court with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools, and as with any arrest, those charged are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Among those arrested was Forrest Theken, 24, of Coventry Township, as reported by FOX 8 News. The station's report also named Taylor Black, 39, of New Franklin; Todd Hively, 47, of Canfield; Uhuru-Kenyatta Hunter, 56, of Canton; and Gary Medvetz, 59, of Silver Lake, among the men taken into custody.
Men From Across the Region Swept Up
The arrests stretched well beyond Cuyahoga County. Also charged were Viktor Moskaluk, 57, of Parma; Ritesh Patel, 51, of Mentor; Timothy Quinn, 48, of Tallmadge; and Ross Stahl, 40, of Elyria, per the same account. Rounding out the list were Terrance Vanderbosch, 56, of Avon Lake; Mitchell Warholic, 63, of Cleveland; and Jeasung Yoo, 57, of Euclid.
The task force that led the operation is run by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department and operates under the Ohio Attorney General's Organized Crime Investigations Commission, the station notes. It draws on representatives from 29 law enforcement agencies, government offices and victim-service organizations working together across the region.
Part of a Broader Statewide Push
The Warrensville Heights operation fits into a pattern of stepped-up enforcement against sex buyers that has intensified since 2021, according to Spectrum News. The outlet reported that the Ohio Attorney General's Office analyzed more than 1,800 people arrested and charged with buying sex between 2019 and 2025 in its first statewide report on the issue, titled The Drivers of Demand.
That report described Ohio sex buyers as predominantly male, white, employed, educated and unmarried, and found that high-frequency buyers who purchase sex weekly or monthly account for almost 75% of transactions, Spectrum News reported. Despite the rise in arrests, sentencing data compiled in the report showed jail time and fines for sex buyers have remained minimal even as sentencing increased over time, according to the Review Online.
Other Recent Task Force Operations
The Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force has run similar operations throughout the past year. In May, a statewide effort called Operation Spring Cleaning spanned 15 counties from May 13-20 and led to 122 arrests: 84 people seeking to buy sex, including from minors, and 38 people arrested on felony charges, as reported by the News-Herald. That operation also included a search of Oriental Spa in Willoughby, where agents seized $30,000 in cash.
A separate operation in fall 2025 led to 32 felony arrests and 103 arrests of people seeking to buy sex, while referring 67 survivors to services, according to The Land. That fall effort included raids on massage parlors in Cleveland, Akron and Toledo and the seizure of more than $62,000 in cash and other evidence.
