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Instead of finding the women, the men thought they had communicated with to arrange for sex in exchange for cash, they found the Cumberland County Human Trafficking Task Force waiting to take them into custody, according to a release by the Cumberland County District Attorney's office on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The men had really been in contact with undercover officers with the task force as they conducted "Operation Impact Demand VI," District Attorney Seán M. McCormack explained.
The following men were arrested at a Hampden Township area hotel on Friday, Sept. 29:
- Timothy Loudin, 46 of Etters, PA.
- David Liccciardello, 74 of Hershey, PA .
- Johnny Palm, 37 of Elliottsburg, PA.
- Carlos Franco, 35 of Rush, CO.
- Shawn Liberator, 49 of Newville, PA.
- Abdourah Issaka-Hamidou, 45 of Steelton, PA.
- Norman Decker, 47 of Bird In Hand, PA.
- Julio Maldonado, 20 of Whitehall, PA.
- James Davis, 51 of Enola, PA.
- John Bowden, 60 of Mechanicsburg, PA.
- Steven Bernard, 54 of Mechanicsburg, PA.
- Matthew Sibbach, 26 of Lemoyne, PA.
- Robert Morris, 43 of Jonestown, PA.
- Eric Braswell, 42 of Jarvisburg, NC.
- Corey Johnson, 35 of Mechanicsburg, PA.
The Hampden Township Police led the task force's operation in conjunction with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department.
“The fuel that feeds human trafficking is the money customers pay for commercial sex. Operation Impact Demand is designed to curtail the supply of money going into the pockets of human traffickers.” DA McCormack remarked.
Operation Impact Demand and its counterpart Operation “Closed to Trafficking”, target illegal commercial sex establishments posing as massage parlors, as Daily Voice previously reported.
“Since we began these operations in June of 2022, we have now arrested a total of 60 individuals. Although this is the sixth operation of this type to be conducted over the past year, investigators have found a high demand among individuals who would seek to exploit women remains. This is what attracts human traffickers to our community and this is why we will continue to conduct these operations.” McCormack said.
The men will all have preliminary hearings at district court 09-3-04, which Magisterial District Judge Kathryn H. Silcox presides over.
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