JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — 22 people are facing felony charges after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said they tried to have sex with people they thought were underage boys or girls.
STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
JSO said Operation Safe Summer was an undercover operation that was conducted between June 19 until June 24.
The North Florida Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task force used officers that posed as children and would chat or communicate with these suspects online. They would then agree on a place to meet up.
When the suspects arrived to have sex with who they thought were young boys or girls, they were arrested.
JSO says it they were able to track down these suspects with help from officers from the following agencies:
“The neighboring and criminal investigative service, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Sheriff’s Office from Alachua, Putnam, Clay, Okaloosa, St. Johns, and Volusia Counties, Gainesville, Orange Park and Daytona Beach Police Departments,” said Dir. Nick Burgos from the Department of Investigation and Homeland Security with JSO.
Detectives tell us the suspects arrested in this operation were from as far north as Yulee to as far south as Orlando.
The suspects range in age from 19 to 49, and some had no prior criminal records, according to JSO.
Cox Media Group
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/J32ZLC4EBHDONCFNTWZ6JANGXE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/OKAE57PZKNGAJESKVA2A4IGARY.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GZGLJ6VU5LOHBTRM6MH6UWQPKM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GMXYY7SVUBDU3FLERVFELJRU5Q.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/HDSLLBPTCFDT3ISEKJNUG7SSC4.png)