Whoever said "Oddly enough, none of the men arrested were registered sex offenders." needs an education in sex offender recidivism statistics!6-22-2011 Florida:
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- Lake County detectives made 32 arrests in six days during a sex sting operation, according to the sheriff’s office.
Undercover detectives went online posing as children or the parents of children trolling for sex. Police said 32 men showed up at a house looking for sex and some brought gifts and candy, all of them were not registered sex offenders.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the arrests and show what they said were the faces of men who want to have sex with children.
"Honestly, I was a little surprised at the number," said Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders.
Detectives said the 32 men traveled to a vacation home that the Lake County Sheriff's Office rented in the Four Corners area. Each of the men was expecting to have sex with a child. One man came all the way from Georgia with two young children of his own in the car, detectives said.
"It's bad enough he's driving to Lake County to meet with what he thinks is a child to have sex with, but to bring his own children with him. The best place for him is jail," said Borders.
The youngest man arrested was 19 and the oldest 63. Every one of the men were considered dangerous, which is why the sheriff's office said they had plenty of manpower during the take downs.
"We're just trying to make a safe arrest. One of the suspects had a gun in his pants," said Borders.
Each time a suspect came to the door of the home, detectives said they were waiting inside and during the operation things got very busy.
"At some points, they had three or four members sitting in cuffs on the floor of the home trying to get them processed and taken out before others showed up. So, it was very much a difficult operation to pull off," said a lieutenant of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Borders said his cyber crimes team has been in place for a few years, but this is the unit's largest sting. While the 32 men were essentially tricked by detectives, Borders said that trolling for sex with children is very real.
"I would tell you that there is that type of real activity going on on the Internet," said Borders.
Detectives said some of the suspects are in jail on Tuesday night and they all face felony charges. The men could receive a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted.
Oddly enough, none of the men arrested were registered sex offenders. ..Source.. by WFTV.com
4 comments:
Most, if not all, of these men will end up on Floridas sex offender registry. Does anyone believe that after going through
the entire criminal justice system and having virtually thier entire lives obliterated by being on the registry, that any of these men would want to committ the same crime again in thier lifetime?
I don't think they would. Which brings up the topic of recidivisim and the justification of public registries. When will our lawmakers get it into thier heads that the public registry is useless. Law enforcement and the courts will keep all the information on a convicted person and can monitor them without a registry. If people want to know if a convicted person lives in thier neighborhood they can get a listing from the police. As more people go on the registries there will be more resistance to them.Change will come. I pray that it is in my lifetime.
I find it very disturbing that it is lawful to create a situation that provides an invitation for this type of activity.
Persons who have been convicted of sexual offenses often sit most if not all, of their prison time. They participate in offender treatment for their mental illnesses. The offender then gets released with a list of parole regulations into a society that is so narrow minded and predjudice, creating a life-style that closely resembles normalcy is impossible.
That being said, the released offender can be re-institutionalized for something as simple as speaking with a minor within a public fast food joint.
The authorities that have the power to revoke an offenders opportunity for a normal life would call this grooming. Persons have been civilly committed indefinately for situations as simple is the one stated here.
Why are the Peace Officers of this country allowed to entice persons into criminal behavior in this manner? Why isn't more emphasis put on the parents to be more involved and hold them more responsible for the lack of supervision over their childs network media sources?
Unfortunately, the raw truth of the matter is.......this type of offense is as old as prostitution and will never go away. So why intentionally over crowd our prison systems by enticing trouble.
These persons were innocent until Public officials led them to guilty.
So why not have a plain clothes officer hand out alcohol to motorists at stop signs while another pulls over and cuffs those who accept at the other end of the block??? It's like "BAIT CAR"! Entrapment!
And what you don't know... most of these sex stings are taken place on adult websites where "Sex" is being spoken about on a bi-minute, if not every second, basis.
What do you think they are going to talk about? The weather?
Point being... MOST of these men are NOT predators. The officers are advertising a trap and waiting for someone (ANYONE) to step on it. There is no hunting on the offenders part... only on the officers part.
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