Operation Summer Hurricane brought multiple law enforcement agencies together to arrest multiple child predators.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and several agencies gathered Thursday morning to announce the arrest of multiple child predators.
- This is the start of multiple operations to protect kids in rural communities.
- Watch the video above to see more abou how this operation is protecting kids.
UPDATED BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"We're trying to destroy that perception in the online pedophile community that there are safe places to solicit kids. We are going to start focusing these operations in sort of the nontraditional rural areas, because the internet doesn't care where you are."
A child predator sting operation has led to multiple arrests with more to come. We heard from law enforcement and victim advocates on how the efforts of rural communities are protecting children.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and several agencies gathered Thursday morning at Disc Village, a behavioral health services provider, to announce the arrest of multiple child predators.
Operation Summer Hurricane led to the arrest of six people in Franklin County. Officials said at the conference that they don't target predators, but predators make themselves a target by engaging with kids.
"So it's really, there's no specific profession, ethnicity, or anything like that. It's all types of life that these people come from," explained Nicholas Ingegno, Tallahassee Assistant Special Agent in charge. "They're willing to travel five minutes, they're willing to travel hours on end at some point, just to meet up with a child to have sex with them."
Operations like these help get predators away from children because children don't know who they're really talking to online.
"They think they're their friends," said Whitley Wilson, a victim advocate with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. "We worked with a kid earlier in the year, and she's just convinced that these people are her friends. They want to help her. They are, you know, they're just like her, but it's like 30-year-old men. And they're, you know, they're really taking advantage of her. She feels like they're on the same level, and they're not. She feels like they're safe, and they just, they want to give her somewhere to stay, or they want to make sure she has nice clothes or whatever. And, you know, really, we know as adults and as professionals that they're targeting her because she's vulnerable."
Wilson says that even if you believe that your child won't be a victim, because you live in a rural community, it's always good to monitor your kids' online presence.
Officials say this will be the first of many operations in rural areas to protect our kids.
Arrests
Colbey G. Adams, 30
Jarvis Arteza Baker Jr, 22
William Jared Breski, 37
Jose De Jesus Salazar Gomez, 25
Joshua Heath Lolley, 36
Christopher Edward Nabors, 32
Jose De Jesus Salazar Gomez is an illegal alien with an active immigration detainer. William Jared Breski is a registered sexual offender.
ORIGINAL:
Multiple law enforcement agencies announce the arrest of 6 people following what they are calling ‘Operation Summer Hurricane.’ According to Franklin County Sheriff AJ Smith, the suspects were targeting children online.
Officials say they are actively searching for two additional people following the investigation.
Law enforcement agencies making an appearance at Thursday's press conference include the FDLE, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, and the Tallahassee Police Department.
This is part of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Officials say investigations like these are targeting rural areas.
Tallahassee Homeland Security Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Nicholas Ingegno outlined today that they are trying to destroy the perception that there is a safe place for predators to operate.
"We are setting a standard that the places you typically were ok to hunt kids or solicit kids, that is no longer the case," said Ingegno.
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