Seventeen men have been arrested for child-exploitation crimes, St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar announced Friday.
Shoar said those arrested in the multi-agency sting called “Operation Cruel Summer” all traveled for the purpose of meeting up with minors for sex. The suspects are between 19 and 60 years old.
Shoar said, “That’s one of the messages to our parents and the adults in these homes: You got to watch these computers, there are horror stories out there.”
He said about two weeks ago his officers started chatting up the predators on e-commerce websites. It’s his department’s fourth operation of this kind.
Shoar said the men traveled from areas in Florida including Duval County and also from out of state, including South Carolina and Virginia.
Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @lindskilbride.
