TOPEKA (KSNT) – A man has been arrested by the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office on Friday on multiple charges during a human trafficking operation.
According to the SNSO, on Sept. 2 deputies conducted a human trafficking operation in Topeka. The goal was to identify and arrest people seeking to sexually exploit underage children in Shawnee County.
During the operation, a man in a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck arrived in the 1900 block of Southwest 10th Street with the intention of meeting a 14-year-old girl. Law enforcement officers with the Criminal Investigations Division tried to stop him in the parking lot of the Dollar General. The man fled the scene westbound on Southwest 10th Street. Officers did not pursue the vehicle since the identity of the driver was known.
Not long after, the man was seen in his truck near Southwest 7th Street and Southwest MacVicar Avenue. According to the sheriff’s office, he had hit multiple vehicles and drove through several yards after fleeing the area. The truck was inoperable following the collision. Officers responded to the crash and took him into custody.
Todd A. Bigham, 45, of Meriden was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and charged with the following:
- Electronic solicitation
- Sexual exploitation of a child
- Flee or attempt to elude
- Driving with a suspended driver’s license
- Violating lane control signal
- Failure to yield at a stop sign
- Reckless driving
The incident is still under investigation.
