In a follow-up to the Dirty John DFW edition highlighting dozens of alleged sex buyers busted in Denton County, The Dallas Express dives into other dirty deeds they have allegedly been up to.
Some of the 34 suspects ensnared in two undercover operations by the Denton County Sheriff’s Office and other local and federal law enforcement partners have had other run-ins with the law in the past, in addition to their alleged solicitation of prostitution crimes.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, 11 suspects were rounded up in the first operation last December, and 23 more were arrested in another operation in June.
DX looked further into the Johns and unearthed additional crimes allegedly committed by some of them prior to their recent entanglements with DCSO. Here is a rundown of some of the prior criminal charges faced by the suspects:
Rajeev Kwamaine Turner has been booked twice on family assault charges, once in March 2022 and once in February 2024. Both allegedly involved recklessly impeding the family member’s breathing.
Michael Anthony Ramos appears in Denton County jail records around a dozen times between 2009 and 2023. The charges include a few DWIs, possession of marijuana, driving without a license, and evading arrest. The most positive thing to be said of his record is that his arrest for soliciting prostitution appears to have been his last run-in with the law, with no new offenses reported this year.
Lontel Jahnar Johnson has been charged with an array of offenses between 2012 and 2024, including theft, robbery, domestic assault, marijuana possession, and assault of a peace officer.
Stevie Wayne Lamb Jr. has a criminal history dating back to 1994 when he was charged with burglarizing a residence and then various subsequent parole violations. His troubles with property crime appear to have continued, with theft offenses, alongside charges for marijuana possession, peppering his records until 2004. He appears to have kept his nose clean (or slid under the radar) until the sex bust last December.
James Arthur Jackson Jr. was charged with possession of between 4 and 200 grams of a group 1 substance — which includes methamphetamine, cocaine, or fentanyl — in February. This is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years, and not his first offense, with another charge dating back to 2018.
Demetrio Santiago Gutierrez, arrested on June 13, appears to have illegally entered the country and is being held in Denton County Jail for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Prior to his December arrest, Jose Guadalupe Zambrano had accumulated several driving offenses, such as operating a car without a license and while intoxicated, per Denton County bond records.
Michael Anthony James Jr. has a previous booking on family assault charges.
By targeting those seeking to purchase sexual services, the authorities are looking to effectively cut off the demand that drives sex trafficking in the first place.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, Texas sees the second-highest number of reports of sex trafficking nationwide, while the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex accounts for 35% of sexual exploitation cases.
However, a true understanding of the full scope of this clandestine activity is difficult to grasp because traffickers frequently relocate to evade detection and prosecution by authorities. One local organization called the Shepherd’s Watch Foundation previously told DX that some sex trafficking rings move every 48 to 72 hours.
In Dallas, a police shortage hinders the Dallas Police Department’s ability to handle sex trafficking cases effectively, a report from the Health and Human Services Commission’s Human Trafficking Resource Center found late last year.
DPD fields some 3,000 officers, which is far less than the 4,000 recommended by a prior City analysis. Moreover, this fiscal year, DPD operates on a budget of just $654 million after City leaders allocated far less taxpayer money to police than in other high-crime jurisdictions.
As of July 8, there have been 228 prostitution-related offenses citywide, with 115 involving the purchase of sexual services, according to the City’s crime analytics dashboard.
The vast majority of these offenses were logged in Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6, which is a known breeding ground for the illicit sex trade.