Charges reduced against two men following undercover investigation

GAINESVILLE - Two men facing charges in Hall County following an undercover human trafficking and internet crimes against children investigation earlier this month had some of those charges reduced Monday.

 

Aaron Clayton Boone, 32, and Clifford Allen Nash, 37, had been charged with trafficking of a person following the October 9 investigation.

 

A representative from the Hall County Magistrate Court office confirmed that those charges for each man had been reduced to electronic enticement of a minor.

 

Both men had also been charged with attempted child molestation and pandering.  The court office also confirmed that Boone's molestation-related charge had been reduced to attempted aggravated sexual battery.

 

Boone and Nash were among five men arrested during the sting operation. 

 

In describing the investigation earlier this month, Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes said authorities posed as a 14-year-old girl online, and all five of the suspects offered sex and payment to the undercover officer. She said each suspect met with the undercover officer at a predetermined location and was arrested.

David Bryan Bryant, 48, Sagarkumar Chetankumar Patel, 29, and Sambo Kong, 29, face the same initial charges in the case.  Bryant was also charged with possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime.

 

Kong has a hearing scheduled Friday.  Bryant and Patel waived their committal hearings, according to the Hall County Magistrate Court Office.

 

The investigation was part of Operation Cross Country IX, which was part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative.