Ryan Spitza/Mining Journal (Marquette) Marquette County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Andy Griffin, speaking at center, along with Upper Peninsula Human Trafficking Task Force President Stephanie Krieger, right, brief area law enforcement officials and media on a multi-agency sting operation carried out on March 18, leading to the arrest of multiple Upper Peninsula men on felony charges related to alleged child sex crimes. The briefing was held at the Marquette Commons in Marquette on Wednesday afternoon.

MARQUETTE — Multiple Upper Peninsula men have been charged with felonies related to alleged child sex crimes, the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office announced at a news conference Wednesday.

Robert Jay Miller, 42, of Negaunee; Ameire Rackem Stevens, 48, of Skandia; Alan Brian Schwalbach, 64, of Vulcan; Keith David Johnson, 50, of Au Train; and Chad Michael Anderson, 32, of Gwinn were arrested after a joint sting operation that was conducted March 18 by multiple law enforcement agencies “to identify and arrest suspected consumers of child sex crimes,” officials said.

Each suspect has been charged by the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office with the following offenses:

• child sexually abusive activity, a felony which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or a fine of $100,000, and also requires the suspect to register as a sex offender under the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act;

• use of a computer to commit child sexual abusive activity, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and/or a fine of $20,000, along with the possibility of a consecutive sentence within the discretion of the court;

• accosting a child for immoral purposes, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and/or a fine of $4,000 and also requires the suspect to register as a sex offender; and

• use of a computer to commit accosting a child for immoral purposes, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and/or a fine of $5,000, along with the possibility of a consecutive sentence.

Officials with the prosecutor’s office emphasized that the charges are currently only allegations, and the suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The joint sting operation was carried out by members of Marquette County law enforcement agencies in collaboration with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office in the Lower Peninsula. Upper Peninsula agencies involved in the operation included the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office, the Marquette Police Department, the Michigan State Police and the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team and the Iron River Police Department. The Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team, GHOST, also aided in the operation.

An additional suspect was arrested in a separate Menominee County operation on Friday, officials said at the press conference Wednesday.

Jeremy Bertrand, 33, was charged with one count of child sexual abusive activity, one count of use of a computer to commit a felony and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Bertrand is due for a probable cause conference on April 5 in Menominee County, according to the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office.

Miller, Schwalbach, Johnson and Anderson are all due in 96th District Court on April 14 for probable cause conferences, while Stevens is due in court Monday for arraignment via Zoom, online court records show.

Miller, Stevens, Schwalbach, Johnson, Anderson and Bertrand have all posted bond, according to the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office.

Bond for Miller, Stevens and Schwalbach was set at 10% of $10,000 for each of the four charges the men faced, officials said. Johnson and Anderson posted bond at 10% of $2,000 for each of the four charges the two men faced.

Bertrand is out on a $75,000 cash surety bond, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese said at Wednesday’s news conference that no children were harmed before the subjects were arrested.

“The thing I think about most on this is the fact that we didn’t have any named child victims here,” he said. “Over the years, as you know I’ve handled many child sexual abuse cases, and it’s very tragic as you’re dealing with children that have already been molested.

“Here, because of the success of the sting operation, we were able to identify people that wanted to prey on children, and they were arrested without any children being harmed in this particular operation. I think it’s proactive and it helps protect other children and sends a message to anyone who might want to participate in this activity that law enforcement will be watching.

“A huge shout-out to all of the Marquette County law enforcement officers that worked on this, and I also want to thank Chief Assistant (Prosecutor) Andy Griffin, who has been handling many of the child sexual abuse cases for my office over the last few years and has been doing an excellent job. With that, I figured he would be the perfect person to work with law enforcement, the U.P. Human Trafficking Task Force and (Genesee County) Sheriff (Chris) Swanson to make sure we did this in a way that would be successful.”

Griffin praised the agencies involved for their hard work.

“I just want to commend law enforcement,” he said. “They were keeping me updated with what was going on. And quite frankly, there’s a sense of pride. There were a lot of agencies from across the U.P. working with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, all working with a common goal. They did a wonderful job, wonderful work and now hopefully this sends a message and lets people know that law enforcement is watching for this type of activity.”

Stephanie Krieger, president of the Upper Peninsula Human Trafficking Task Force, was also on hand to share comments, calling the operation a great success for all 15 U.P. counties.

“This is a good day for the U.P.,” she said. “I want to commend our local law enforcement heroes that took part, participated and did an outstanding job to investigate and to protect children from those that wanted to conduct sex crimes against them.

“It is a fantastic thing here in the U.P. that we can all work together. We have 15 counties to look after, and specifically I want to thank our community and our prosecutor, (Michigan State Police) Eighth District Headquarters, the (Marquette) County Sheriff’s Office, Marquette PD and Iron River PD as well.

“We will win this fight together. No one agency can do that, and it takes a lot of great skill and specific knowledge.”

Krieger believes human trafficking in the U.P. is a major issue that doesn’t receive enough attention. The goal of UPHTTF is to combat and prevent human trafficking, with a focus on the victims and their needs.

“Human trafficking affects individuals across the world, in our state, and certainly in upper Michigan,” she said. “It is commonly regarded as the fastest growing criminal enterprise after drugs. Human trafficking affects every community here in the U.P. across age, across genders, across ethnicities and also socioeconomic backgrounds.”

“I believe human trafficking is intrinsically evil. It is a strike against human persons, it is a strike against human dignity, and we stand together to fight it.

“The U.P. Human Trafficking Task Force is a nonprofit (non-governmental organization) whose mission is to build and maintain collaborative efforts combating human trafficking issues here in the U.P. It’s always centering on the victims, always looking at their trauma and sensitivity as we approach them. Our goal is one, to identify victims of all forms of human trafficking. Number two, investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases here locally, across the state and at the federal levels. Last but not least, address and support individual service needs of victims both minors and adults.”

Krieger finished by thanking local law enforcement for their hours of dedication put into the operation, as well as the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office and Operation Underground Railroad for carrying out the plan.

“On behalf of the U.P. Human Trafficking Task Force, we would like to thank these heroes present (today).

“I also wanted to bring special acknowledgement to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office and their GHOST team. It is the partnership that we have developed with the Genesee County GHOST team that enabled this event to happen together. It is their partnership that was also grant funded by the OUR organization, a team of former CIA and former military personnel created to rescue trafficked children across the world. Their commitment to this operation all the way up in the U.P. paid for travel expenses for their team to be here, and we say thank you.”

For more information on the Upper Peninsula Human Trafficking Task Force, visit www.upht123.org.

Approximately 20.9 million people are trafficked each year, officials said. Sixty-eight percent are trapped in forced labor, 55% are women or girls and 26% are children.

On in five endangered runaways are possible child sex trafficking victims, and 47% of those runaways were in the care of social services or foster homes.

These statistics come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Blue Campaign, created to spread awareness of human trafficking and those who fall victim to it.

Those who suspect a case of human trafficking can report it by calling 1-866-347-2423, dialing 911 or reporting it to local authorities immediately. For the National Human Trafficking Hotline, dial 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP to 233733.