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The Flagstaff Police Department (FPD) released additional details Tuesday about the sting operations leading to nine felony arrests for sexual offenses -- most notably, that of well-known Flagstaff radio broadcaster Dave Zorn, who has been charged with luring a minor for sexual exploitation.

The Arizona Daily Sun initially reported Zorn’s arrest on Monday morning after discovering it on Friday morning, waiting at the request of police due to the ongoing operation. FPD named Zorn and eight other suspects in a press release published Monday evening. The release stated that the arrests were the outcome of “a series of multiagency operations targeting child sex trafficking and exploitation,� as part of northern Arizona’s anti-trafficking North Star Task Force.

Detective Bethany Hyde, who oversees human trafficking investigations for FPD, said in an interview on Tuesday that over the past six months, FPD and task force partners conducted “three intensive operations.� In addition to the nine felony arrests resulting from those operations, FPD also arrested 19 people on misdemeanor prostitution charges in a two-day span from March 7 to March 8.

Those arrested on felony charges included Zorn, 52; Thomas Jay Smith, 50; Brent William Smith, 20; Michael Edward Flores, 52; Marcus D. Wimberley III, 47; Rakesh Dino Dullbson, 42; Max Holden Berkman, 27; Christopher Ray Hoffman, 44; and Abel Isaiah Ramos, 38.

Hyde said the sting operations were “close to 100% virtual.� Communications between the eventual suspects and law enforcement officers posing as minors took place primarily on social media apps and were not initiated by the officers, she explained.

“On most of these profiles, we never even start the conversation,� Hyde said.

The volume of unsolicited messages directed at the “decoy� profiles is “overwhelming,� she added. Some of those messages are immediately sexual in nature, Hyde said, while others are not immediately explicit but gradually shift in that direction.

Officers acting in the decoy roles will eventually claim to be minors during the process. While many of the people who message the profiles stop communicating at that point, some do not.

One common legal defense pursued by individuals targeted in sting operations is a claim of entrapment -- a claim that the defendant wouldn’t have committed the offense without the encouragement of law enforcement. Under Arizona law, requires “clear and convincing evidence� the defendant was not predisposed to commit the offense, and that law enforcement officers “urged and induced� them to do so.

Hyde said FPD and its task force partners are well aware of the legal threshold for entrapment.

“We’re very careful to never cross that line,� she said, reiterating that these recent arrests were based on conversations initiated and driven by the alleged offenders.

To the best of the department’s knowledge, none of the nine felony suspects from these operations have committed “a hands-on offense with a real juvenile victim,� Hyde said.

“That’s not to say that it hasn’t happened,� she added. “It’s not uncommon for victims not to come forward until something like this comes out.�

No actual minors were involved in any of the alleged offenses committed by these nine suspects. There have been, however, other recent local cases that did involve underage victims -- for instance, the arrest of a Flagstaff man for sexual conduct with a minor on March 12. Such cases, Hyde said, strengthen her belief in the importance of proactive sting operations.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see those victims go through what they go through, both from a mental health perspective and the stigma that they get from their peers in high school or even elementary school. I just don’t want them to have to experience that,� Hyde said. “I’d much rather be the one on the other side of the phone, contacting that person, and hopefully preventing them from ever having contact with a real juvenile.�

Though the officers acting as decoys are effectively the front line of a sting operation, Hyde noted that the investigations and arrests require a much larger team of personnel. Between 30 and 40 people can be required “to safely and effectively execute an operation like this,� she said.

Partner agencies, including multiple municipal police departments, county sheriff’s offices, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and even federal agencies contributed to the successful arrests. Among the forms of assistance provided by those partners is intelligence to “help us identify who we’re speaking with,� according to Hyde. 

The high-potential consequences of a conviction for sexual offenses involving minors increase the likelihood that a suspect might become desperate or resort to violence when confronted by law enforcement, Hyde said.

“We have a lot of personnel on the arrest side of things, too, to make sure that we’re keeping our public safe, we’re keeping our officers safe and we’re keeping the person we’re contacting safe as well,� she said. “We don’t want it to turn into a violent situation.�

FPD will continue to conduct additional sting operations in the future, although the specific methods used in those operations could change.

Sgt. Jerry Rintala, public information officer for FPD, said the department didn't want to tip off potential future targets by discussing future plans in depth.

“We want them to know that we’re out there doing this. We don’t necessarily want them to know how we’re doing it," he said.

In its press release, the department stated that the operations “also exposed wider patterns of exploitation.� Hyde clarified that this was a reference to the prevalence of predatory behavior on social media platforms.

The outcome of these operations “further emphasizes how important it is � for parents to understand who their children are talking to on social media,� she said. “It’s pretty disturbing, the things that people are willing to say to a 13-year-old, 14-year-old, 15-year-old child.�

Referencing the arrests made during the recent operations, Hyde said, “If I can prevent � nine children from becoming victims, what we do is worth every minute. � Because that’s nine less children that have to live with the lifelong trauma of being victimized by a crime like this.�

Zorn case update

Zorn was arrested on Thursday, March 27. Hyde declined to discuss details of Zorn’s case, but did say, “I know it was over at least a week that he was communicating with who he believed to be a juvenile,� and “I do know that he initiated that conversation.�

The content of the conversation, she added, was “deeply disturbing.�

The criminal complaint filed against Zorn in Flagstaff Justice Court includes seven felony charges. There are four counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation, specifying that between March 20 and March 27, Zorn allegedly “offered or solicited sexual conduct� including cunnilingus, fellatio, penile-vaginal sexual intercourse and “masturbation for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer,� while knowing or believing that the other person was a minor.

There are also three counts of “attempted furnishing harmful items to a minor,� which is a Class 5 felony. The complaint does not list what items Zorn offered to provide, but under Arizona state law, the seemingly generic phrase “items harmful to minors� has a : pornography or other sexually explicit materials, in any format. Those three counts date from March 20, March 24 and March 25.

As of Wednesday, Zorn remained in the custody of the Coconino County Detention Facility on a $100,000 bond. The court also stipulated that, if released, Zorn shall have no access to social media. It is not yet clear if Zorn has retained legal counsel.

A posted to the KAFF News website at 5 p.m. on Tuesday read, "We are shocked and heartbroken by the arrest of and the allegations against our colleague Dave Zorn. The news of his arrest has deeply affected all of us." The statement also noted that commenting on KAFF News social media feeds had been temporarily disabled "while we navigate this challenging time."

Although Zorn's case has drawn the most immediate attention, Hyde noted that the other suspects involved in the sting were also "well established in the community." Detailed biographical information was not immediately available for all the arrestees, but Arizona Corporation Commission business records show that Rakesh Dullbson is a vice president of "Relax Inns of AZ, Inc," a company whose business address is the same as that of the Comfort Inn on Lucky Lane just north of Interstate 40.

“We had a misconception that this doesn’t happen in Flagstaff and it’s not our community members -- it’s people coming from the outside in," Hyde said. "But I think we very quickly revealed that is not the case.�

The North Star Task Force encouraged members of the public to report any suspected trafficking or exploitation to the Flagstaff Police Department at (928) 774-1414 or to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

Update: The Flagstaff Police Department confirmed on Friday, Apr. 4 that they had made an additional felony arrest from the sting operation following the initial publication of this story. Kyle Tyler Norberto, 27, was charged with child sex trafficking on Thursday, Apr. 3, bringing the total number of felony arrests from the sting to 10.