Sex Ad Featuring High School Student Leads Nashville Cops To Teen’s Rescue

An online ad promoting sex with a high school student led authorities to the motel room where the 18-year-old student was being kept by her trafficker, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.

In the MNPD’s press release on the case, it was revealed that a School Resource Officer (SRO) was given a tip about the student appearing in the online prostitution ad, following which the Special Victims unit took action. The unit associated a telephone number listed under 30-year-old Shawnveccheo Swain after locating the ad in question. Investigators were led to a motel in Antioch, downtown Nashville, where the student was found in a room by herself.

Speaking with detectives, the student said she was forced by Swain to engage in prostitution. While Swain was not in the motel at the time the high school student was rescued, he was stopped by police at a gas station after riding a Nissan Altima with an expired temp tag.

Swain was also found to be in possession of two firearms, 8.8 grams of meth, 1 gram of crack cocaine, and 10 grams of marijuana. The perpetrator is now under a 145,000 bond on multiple charges, including trafficking for a commercial sex act.

The Nashville incident came less than two weeks after MNPD said authorities were able to locate two missing girls after the teenagers were found on an adult escort website, NBC affiliate WBIR-TV reported.

The Sevierville girls, aged 14 and 17, were discovered at the InTown Suites at 2350 Murfreesboro Road, Clarksville. Detectives later arrested Charles Woods, who admitted to posting photos of the missing girls and receiving money through Venmo. Some photos on the escort website showed one of the minors sitting on top of a man who was lying in bed.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced last week it was looking to triple efforts on its human trafficking crackdown in the state.

The organization said it has requested funding from the Tennessee Governor’s office for additional personnel in its human trafficking department. The state has seen an increase in undercover human sex trafficking operations but TBI Director David Rausch said the organization wants more staff on the job as it continues to train new personnel about innovative techniques for undercover operations that should get juveniles and victims out of the system.