LAKELAND, Fla. — An 8-day undercover investigation called Operation Child Protector V from the Polk County Sheriff's Office and multiple other agencies found eight people suspected of online sex crimes against children.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the eight suspects allegedly communicated with and solicited who they thought were children or adults who had access to children online.
The sheriff's office said new five suspects showed up to an undercover location in Polk County at separate times to sexually batter children. Deputies said those five suspects "wanted to pay an adult hundreds of dollars to have sex with who they thought was a child."
In total, 27 felony charges were filed against seven of the suspects arrested in the undercover operation.
One suspect, John Adams, 61, has not been arrested but is being sought by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Adams is from Dunedin and is facing charges of use of a computer to solicit a guardian and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said operations like this were to keep children safe, but it's also up to parents to stay on top of their children's digital lives.
"Parents need to be 'all up in their child's business' when it comes to electronic devices that give them access to online gaming, mobile applications, texting, or the internet," Sheriff Judd said. "Check their devices regularly, and ensure parental controls are enabled to keep predators like these away from your kids.
The operation also targeted sex offenders who were not properly registered or other violations. That part of the operation yielded 16 people facing charges of failure to comply with registration laws and/or violation of probation.
Of those 16, the Polk County Sheriff's said 14 had been arrested, and two more, James Macarthur Johnson, 39, and Antone Starks, 48, remain at large.
