Two men were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of child sex trafficking after detectives in the Mesa Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Tracking Unit completed a five-month investigation, authorities said.

Oshay Small, 26, and Cornelius Wells, 21, were taken into custody.

Small was booked by police on suspicion of 13 charges, all stemming from sex trafficking. Wells was booked on suspicion of four charges, all stemming from child sex trafficking.

Police said the two men contacted two 15-year-old girls over Facebook and got them to leave home. 

Small and Wells exploited the 15-year-old girls, using the internet to advertise and locate commercial sex buyers, according to Detective Nik Rasheta, Mesa police spokesman. 

Investigators also learned about another girl and two adult women being exploited, Rasheta said in a statement. Some of the girls and women were transported to Tucson and El Paso, Texas, he said. 

The men were located at a hotel near Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, Rasheta said.

Mesa Police Department’s SWAT team and the detectives made the arrests. 

Police said the average age of a victim entering sex trafficking in Arizona is 14 years old. If you have  information about someone being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.

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