A man and a woman in Meigs County have been charged for alleged human trafficking, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
“Agents began investigating Tristin Epperson and Clarissa McKinney in early 2024, after receiving information concerning their interactions with a juvenile,” TBI said.
Thursday, the Meigs County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Epperson (pictured above, left) with one count of Commercial Sex Trafficking of a Minor, six counts of Statutory Rape, and one count of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.
The grand jury returned an indictment on one count of Commercial Sex Trafficking of a Minor, six counts of Facilitation of Statutory Rape, and one count of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor for McKinney (pictured above, right).
Both were arrested and booked into the Meigs County Jail.
Epperson is being held on a $100,000 bond, while McKinney was released on her recognizance.
As reported by The Tennessee Star in March, two illegal aliens present in the state were charged in connection to a “multinational criminal organization linked to human trafficking.”
TBI’s Human Trafficking Unit arrested Yilibeth Rivero De Caldera on nine counts of Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act and later, with the help of federal law enforcement, arrested Kleiver Daniel Moto Rivero.
The victims in that alleged trafficking ring were Central American and South American female migrants who were forced into sex slavery to pay off debts owed to Rivero De Caldera in exchange for Rivero De Caldera smuggling them into the United States.
In the August 2023 special session of the Tennessee General Assembly, a bipartisan bill requiring TBI to prepare an annual report with “child and human trafficking crimes and trends in this state, based upon data available to the bureau…” to the General Assembly and Gov. Bill Lee (R) was passed.
It was signed into law and has taken effect.
Concerns about human trafficking in the state took center stage after a bombshell 2023 report showing that instances of the practice had increased by more than 800 percent in a decade.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Tristin Epperson and Clarissa McKinney” by Meigs Co. Sheriff’s Office.
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