Five men have been indicted on felony sexual solicitation charges after a weeklong undercover operation in Frederick County last month, in which investigators posed as underage girls online to identify adults allegedly seeking sexual encounters with minors. All five defendants face at least one felony count of sexual solicitation of a minor, according to court records.
The operation was carried out by the Frederick County INTERCEPT Task Force, as reported by The Frederick News-Post. Investigators said Dustin Cole Chester, 28, of Aberdeen, communicated with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl on the app MeetMe, continuing sexually explicit conversations even after learning the purported girl's age, and arranging to meet her. Chester was arrested after showing up for that meeting at a Frederick convenience store, and he was indicted on October 16.
Matthew John Bell, 43, of Silver Spring, allegedly communicated with another undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl through MeetMe and text messages, and investigators said he discussed sexual activity and arranged to meet at the same convenience store. Bell told investigators he believed he was meeting a 20-year-old woman, according to charging documents cited in the report. He was arrested upon arriving at the store and indicted on October 19. Both Chester and Bell were ordered held without bail.
Cash, Cellphones and a Motion to Suppress
Walter Randolph Horman Jr., 38, of Knoxville, was arrested on September 24 after allegedly arranging to meet an undercover investigator near a Frederick hotel in exchange for $85. An undercover operative with Homeland Security Investigations had posed as a teenage girl who said she was almost 15 years old, and investigators reportedly observed Horman arrive in a silver Nissan before taking him into custody. Police recovered two cellphones and $85 in cash from him, per charging documents described by the outlet.
Horman told investigators he had stopped communicating with the person posing as underage and started talking to someone else, according to the same charging documents. He was indicted October 5 on three felony sexual solicitation counts and two prostitution-related misdemeanor charges, court records show, and was released on his own recognizance. His defense filed a motion to suppress on October 16, and Assistant Public Defender Rachel Reyes entered an appearance on his behalf on October 19.
A Second Arrest in the Same Week
Michael Ramessar, 28, of Hagerstown, was also arrested during the same operation. He was indicted October 19 on one felony sexual solicitation count, with Ashley Antczak listed as his arresting officer. Ramessar was ordered held without bail following a September 23 bail review before District Judge Brett J. Engler.
Investigators also reported recovering a cellphone and condoms during the broader investigation, according to charging documents referenced in the News-Post's reporting. A fifth man, Collin Ray Dixon, 31, of Frederick, was also among those indicted, though the available case details for his charge do not match the specificity provided for the other four defendants.
Funding Behind the Sting
Operation Light Shine, a nonprofit focused on combating child exploitation and human trafficking, provided funding and technology for the investigation, the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office said. The nonprofit also supported a similar Frederick County operation in 2024.
The Frederick County INTERCEPT Task Force previously organized a similar multi-agency initiative in September 2024, according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. That earlier effort used both covert and overt tactics across online and in-person encounters, and participating agencies also conducted community outreach to educate parents and guardians about warning signs of solicitation. The 2024 operation brought in the Frederick Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office, the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Montgomery County Police Department, and resulted in arrests including Juan Carlos Vazquez-Natera and Jeffrey Allen Ringersma, each charged with two counts of sexual solicitation of a minor, along with Daniel Salazar Lara, who was awaiting extradition from Washington State.
A separate undercover operation in Talbot County this spring led to three arrests after investigators began targeting people sexually exploiting children online during the week of April 12, according to WBOC. That operation, led by the Talbot County Sheriff's Office in collaboration with the FBI Baltimore Field Office's Maryland Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the Easton Police Department and the Talbot County State's Attorney's Office, resulted in charges against Jason Towers, Selvin Miranda-Miranda and Andrew Jenkins, each facing one count of sexual solicitation of a minor.
The Charge Under Maryland Law
The charges against the five Frederick County men fall under Maryland Criminal Law § 3-324, the statute that defines and prohibits sexual solicitation of a minor, according to the Maryland General Assembly.
