One of the four people charged in a 2024 human trafficking sting in Stone County has been sentenced to prison.
According to court documents, Mariko Kwizera from Congo, Africa was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Correction after pleading guilty to enticement or attempted enticement of a child.
The Stone County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies worked together in the operation, creating sexually explicit advertisements online of young girls that claimed to be 14 to 17 years old.
Four suspects responded to the ads: Kwizera, 22-year-old Christian Diewert of Canada, 26-year-old Dalton Parton of Branson, and 26-year-old Nayib Saldana of Little Rock.
The other three suspects were charged with second-degree attempted sex trafficking.
Diewert has a disposition hearing set for September 26th, a jury trial for Saldana is set for October 1st, and Parton’s trial is set for January 21st, 2026.
Photo courtesy of Stone County Sheriff’s Office.