The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office arrested nine men during a recent four-day sting designed to catch offenders looking to sexually exploit children, a news release said Wednesday.
The sting, called “Operation Rip Current,” was the fifth time in the past seven years that an undercover operation using the internet has been used to locate and identify persons who use it to commit these crimes. The sheriff’s office has ultimately arrested 75 people in these five operations.
The investigators posed as children online in an attempt to deter child predators from actual children. The suspects aggressively requested to meet in person for the purpose of sexually abusing the children that the investigators were portraying online.
The charges these men were arrested on included:
-Using a computer to solicit a child for unlawful sexual conduct
-Transmission of harmful material to minors
-Promote sexual performance by a child
-Use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
-Traveling to meet a minor for sex
Click through the gallery below to see the mugshots for the nine men arrested in this sting.
