Manatee County sex sting: 'Operation Safe Childhood' leads to 27 arrests
Courtesy: Manatee County Sheriff's Office
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. - Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells announced Wednesday that 27 people were arrested following a summer-long, multi-agency crackdown on internet sex crimes in the county.
Manatee sheriff sex crimes operation
What we know:
Sheriff Rick Wells provided details during a Wednesday news conference regarding "Operation Safe Childhood."
Detectives assigned to the Child Protection Investigation Division worked alongside state and federal partners throughout the summer to target individuals involved in online sexual offenses.
Deputies said the initiative combined two separate operations.
Investigators launched "Operation Match Maker" in March after partnering with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to catch registered offenders hiding online activity.
Detectives say they screened 105 probationers and reviewed 40 online accounts, uncovering violations among 15 sex offenders and predators. MCSO said a separate review of 82 sexual predators uncovered one more offender breaking registration laws.
"No matter how much work we do, there is always predators out there trying to harm our children," Wells said. "We have got to have these conversations with our kids to make sure they understand that there are people online. I don’t care if you’re online, gaming, social media. They are there doing whatever they can to connect with our children. We have to understand our children understand that," said Sheriff Rick Wells.
The Sheriff's Office stressed that predators target children on popular platforms including Rollox, Facebook Messenger, Pinterest and YouTube TV.
By the numbers:
The sheriff's office said community members also helped operation efforts through anonymous tips. Deputies said reports sent through Crime Stoppers helped detectives uncover unreported social media profiles, email addresses, temporary homes and employment details.
The combined total of both enforcement efforts yielded:
- 27 total arrests
- 247 total criminal charges
- 15 arrested and 115 felony charges stemming from Operation Match Maker
- 12 arrests and 132 criminal charges resulting from leads
Arrests:
- Aaron Knowles
- Breanna Bailey
- Brinkley Peters
- David Garcia
- David Kupka
- Derek Bailey
- Duane Sharrard
- Dustin England
- Edward Ranft
- John Wingate
- Joshua Miller
- Keith Paige
- Luis Sanches
- Mario Caron
- Mauricio Narvaez Gonzalez
- Parker Torres
- Richard Lagace
- Robert Chippendale
- Sidney Hird
- Timoteo Escalante Sebastian
- Trenton Endicott Denton
- Vincent Pepitone
- William Lowe
- Zachary Molnar
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells, who hosted a news conference outlining the investigation results, as well as official statements provided by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.