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Sheriff's worker linked to prostitution ring
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Jillian Lybarger
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A Maricopa County Sheriff's Office detention officer was among five women arrested in another sweep of prostitution-related arrests in connection to the ongoing Desert Divas investigation.
Ringleaders guilty in prostitution operation
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced that one of its own employees, Jillian Lybarger, 23, was arrested by Phoenix police Wednesday on suspicion of felony and misdemeanor offenses in connection to the investigation.
Lybarger was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit illegal control of enterprise, illegal control of enterprise and money laundering, as well as a misdemeanor count of employee of a house of prostitution, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
The arrests are part of what authorities have called the largest prostitution bust in Arizona history.
The four other women arrested Wednesday on suspicion to prostitution-related counts were:
Keri Ashcraft, 23, Andrea Barraza, 23, Savannah Hasse, 21 and Leslie Wolf, 21.
Lybarger, employed by the sheriff's office for less than a year, was placed on administrative leave.
Phoenix police began executing search warrants at residences throughout the Valley in August 2008 and made more than 50 arrests after conducting a yearlong investigation into the criminal syndicate. During that time, investigators discovered that the Internet-based escort service operation covered three states, involved more than 100 prostitutes and generated $250,000 a month. A number of the women working as prostitutes were still living at home with their parents, authorities said at the time.
Nine people who pleaded guilty last month in connection to the operation - including three of its ringleaders and a Valley radiologist - are facing prison time for their roles in the operation.
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