MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A six-day sting operation in Marion County led to the arrests of 40 men, according to the sheriff’s office.
The operation, dubbed “Seek and Ye Shall Find Out,” involved law enforcement officers posing as children online, during which Sheriff Billy Woods said they engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the suspects.
Woods said the suspects thought they were talking to children between the ages of 13-15, and some travled to meet what they thought were children.
The suspects arrested during the sting ranged in ages from 18-64.
Some of the charges included traveling to meet a minor for illegal sexual conduct, human trafficking, using a computer to solicit a child, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and transmitting material harmful to a minor.
In addition to the arrests, investigators seized guns, various drugs, cash, and vehicles.
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