Several arrested for seeking sex with children online

Five men were arrested during a Marion County operation to identify and catch offenders seeking sex with children online. 

The Marion County Sheriff's Office says that law enforcement from local, state, and federal agencies recently assisted the Marion County Sheriff's Office in identifying and capturing offenders seeking sex with children online.

During 'Operation Can't Touch This,' the Marion County Sheriff's Office says that each defendant made arrangements to have sex with a girl or boy in Marion County between the ages of 13 and 15 years old. However, the defendants were actually chatting with undercover law enforcement officers, not children. 

Seven men were said to have been arrested during the operation after they traveled to a location in Ocala to have sex with the child they thought they had been messaging online. Instead, they were met by law enforcement waiting to put them in handcuffs.

During the online interactions, the sheriff's office says that all of them engaged in lewd conversations with the 'child' and described the sexual acts they wished to do with them. Some of the men sent inappropriate pictures to the undercover officers as well. One of the suspects even brought suspicious items to the meeting location, such as a rope and sleeping bag.

Four were arrested during the operation on charges of Soliciting a Child for Unlawful Sexual Conduct using Computer Services or Devices, Traveling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act, and Unlawful Use of Two-Way Communications Device. Those four were 21-year-old Nathan Collins, 41-year-old Anthony Michael Guiliani, 25-year-old Samuel Rogers, and 20-year-old Christopher Molinaro. 

28-year-old Geoffrey Johnson was also arrested for Soliciting a Child for Unlawful Sexual Conduct using Computer Services or Devices through a Parent, Traveling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act, and Unlawful Use of Two-Way Communications Device.

34-year-old Charles A. Smith was also arrested for Soliciting a Child for Unlawful Sexual Conduct using Computer Services or Devices, Traveling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act, and Transmission of Material Harmful to a Minor.

71-year-old Donald Ambros Willingham was also arrested for Soliciting a Child for Unlawful Sexual Conduct using Computer Services or Devices through a Guardian, raveling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act, and Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device.