BARTOW, Fla. (AP) - Twenty-two men were arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a minor over the Internet during a four-day undercover operation, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Monday.
The men included a volunteer youth hockey coach, an airport security screener and a volunteer firefighter. They ranged in age from men in their early 20s to a 60-year-old man who is a registered sex offender in Ohio.
Investigators used Internet chat rooms and instant messaging to direct the men to a suburban home west of Orlando, where they believed they were meeting a teenage girl to have sex, the sheriff's office said in a news release.
The sting began Thursday. Each of the 22 men arrested face multiple charges.
"It's disappointing to know that we have arrested child predators who come from public service industries," Sheriff Grad Judd said in a statement. "This reconfirms our dedication to our number one cause, and that's keeping children safe."
In April, the sheriff's office arrested 28 men during a similar undercover sting.
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