Fifteen men went to the same hotel in Hampden Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States on September 29, 2023. They expected to meet women they thought they had communicated with to arrange for sex in exchange for money.
Unbeknownst to the men, they actually communicated with undercover officers from the Cumberland County Human Trafficking Task Force. The officers conducted Operation Impact Demand VI with assistance from the Hampden Township Police Department and the Cumberland County’s Sheriff’s Department.
Cumberland County was founded on January 27, 1750. It is the fastest growing county in Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
When the men arrived at the hotel, they were arrested. One of them is from Colorado, USA and one is from North Carolina, USA.
Among the 15 arrestees, 13 are from Pennsylvania. Here is the list:
- Abdourah Issaka-Hamidou, 45, of Steelton, Pennsylvania
- Carlos Franco, 35, of Rush, Colorado
- Corey Johnson, 35, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
- David Liccciardello, 74, of Hershey, Pennsylvania
- Eric Braswell, 42, of Jarvisburg, North Carolina
- James Davis, 51, of Enola, Pennsylvania
- John Bowden, 60, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
- Johnny Palm, 37, of Elliottsburg, Pennsylvania
- Julio Maldonado, 20, of Whitehall, Pennsylvania
- Matthew Sibbach, 26, of Lemoyne, Pennsylvania
- Norman Decker, 47, of Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania
- Robert Morris, 43, of Jonestown, Pennsylvania
- Shawn Liberator, 49, of Newville, Pennsylvania
- Steven Bernard, 54, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
- Timothy Loudin, 46, of Etters, Pennsylvania
According to Cumberland County district attorney Seán M. McCormack, Operation Impact Demand is designed to curtail the supply of money going into the pockets of human traffickers. Its counterpart Operation Closed to Trafficking targets illegal commercial sex establishments posing as massage parlors.
Operation Impact Demand and Operation Closed to Trafficking are part of a strategy to drive commercial sexual exploitation traffickers out of Cumberland County. Since the operations started in June 2022, a total of 60 people have been arrested.
CONAN Daily 