Operation “No Soliciting” yields fifteen arrests

Historic City News has been informed that St Johns County Sheriff David Shoar and participating agencies in the North Florida Internet Crimes against Children Task Force will hold a press conference this morning to announce the results of a five-day undercover operation.

Between last Wednesday and Sunday, fifteen men, ranging in age from 19-49 years old, have been arrested and are facing felony charges that they used the Internet to sexually exploit children.

The operation involved undercover detectives posing as children between the ages of 13 and 14, or their parents, trying to arrange, online, for men to travel to a residence in northwest St Johns County to meet them for sex.

Once the men arrived at the home they were taken into custody.

Three of those arrested traveled to St Johns County from different areas of South Georgia, three came from Volusia County, two came from St Johns, Duval and Alachua Counties and one each came from Clay, Nassau, and Flagler Counties.

Among the professions of the suspects arrested, one was a St. Johns County school bus driver, a Navy enlisted man, students and clerks.

Multiple agencies participated in the operation under the auspices of the North Florida Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.

Those agencies included the F.B.I., the US Marshal Task Force, F.D.L.E., Office of the State Attorney 7th Judicial Circuit, the Sheriff’s Offices of St Johns, Alachua, Volusia, Clay and Brevard Counties as well as the Gainesville, Daytona Beach and Tallahassee Police Departments.