Two men have pleaded “not guilty” to charges filed after being caught up in the latest Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force sting.

Forty-three-year-old Michael Petty of Akron was arrested Wednesday about a block from the Salem Police Department where undercover agents says he had arranged to a meeting to pay $80 for sex.

That same day on Bacon Avenue in East Palestine, 36-year-old Brian Pence of Berlin Center was arrested with the $200 that he allegedly was going to spend on a sex act arranged through a website that the task force says is known for prostitution.

In addition to being charged with engaging in prostitution, both men are charged with possessing criminal tools for allegedly using cell phones to arrange the meetings.

Both men have been freed from the county jail and are due back in court in April.