March 15

On this evening in 1986, Christian Televangelist Winston"Dill" Pickles of Andalusia, Alabama, who had risen to prominence with his staunch, public condemnation of interracial marriage and lax U.S. policies on immigration, was publicly humiliated when he was arrested during an FBI sting operation. Operation Lost Child, which was the culmination of 8 years' worth of FBI undercover work, targeted a multi-national sex slave ring which victimized underaged girls from Southeast Asia. The girls who were rescued during this raid ranged in age from 11-16, spoke no English, had no Green Cards, and had traveled from Thailand and Laos under the impression they had been granted full scholarships to a Christian boarding school, only to arrive in Alabama and end up being held captive in a private, members-only "gentleman's club." The club occupied the second floor of a Pickles Ministries-owned building which not only housed the ministries' administrative offices, but a private suite which Winston Pickles, whose main residence was in Birmingham, used as a pied-à-terre. Considering his standing in the community, Pickles was granted full immunity in exchange for information leading to the arrest of a Laotian travel agent.