A senior Pentagon official responsible for overseeing the education of thousands of military children has been arrested in a human-trafficking sting operation in Georgia.
The Coweta County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of 26 people last week in connection with an alleged human-trafficking ring, including Stephen Hovanic, 64, of Sharpsburg, Georgia.
According to Stars and Stripes, Hovanic served as the chief of staff for the Americas division of the Department of Defense Education Activity for 13 years and has been employed by the department for nearly 30 years. The DODEA is responsible for federal schools on U.S. military bases around the world.
Authorities charged Hovanic with pandering — a misdemeanor in Georgia — for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover agent in a motel room, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
"This kind of operation is really important to us, because, No. 1, sex buyers are a huge problem in the industry," an agent told Fox 5 on condition of anonymity. "Without sex buyers, there wouldn't be a market for the females to continue to be victimized."
"Second, and probably most importantly for all of us, is the victimization of these females," the agent continued. "There's not a good scenario for them in this lifestyle, so the goal is to get them out of this lifestyle."
In a statement obtained by WSB-TV Atlanta, the DODEA said the department is "aware of an alleged incident involving a DODEA employee in the Americas Region."
"As there are ongoing legal processes, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," the department added. "Any questions regarding the incident should be directed to the local law enforcement agency involved."
Hovanic's chief of staff position has reportedly been listed as "vacant" on the federal school system's website.
The two-day operation, which was conducted between Nov. 15 and 16, resulted in the rescue of six human-trafficking victims who have since been "moved to safety," the Haralson County Sheriff's Office, which assisted the Coweta County Sheriff's Office in its investigation, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
"A total of 26 arrests were made, 12 for prostitution, 10 for pandering, and four for pimping," the sheriff's office said. "Three of the individuals are currently under investigation for human trafficking and drug charges."
The DODEA's official website says it is "one of only two Federally-operated school systems" that is "responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense (DOD)."
Fox News reported that the DODEA currently manages 160 schools in 11 different countries, seven states, Puerto Rico and Guam. It serves almost 70,000 military and Defense Department children and has approximately 15,000 employees.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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