Task force in Sacramento County arrests 18 men suspected of trying to lure children online
Investigators with an Internet crimes task force in Sacramento County conducted an undercover sting operation last week and arrested 18 men suspected of trying to meet children for sex after chatting with them online.
The investigators posed as 12- and 13-year-old boys and girls as the suspects chatted with them online, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Wednesday evening. No children were ever used or placed in danger during the sting operation.
The Sheriff’s Office said the arrests were the result of Operation Catch-A-Predator, an ongoing investigation that could lead to more arrests. The operation was conducted from Aug. 23 through 27 by the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force/Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The task force consists of 106 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout 30 counties in Northern and Central California. The task force includes detectives from the Sheriff’s Office, the Sacramento County Probation Department, the California Department of Justice, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The operation’s focus was to contact and arrest anyone online who may be trying to target a child for sex. The detectives, posing as children, spoke with the suspects through online apps. During these online conversations, the suspects “used sexually explicit language and sent graphic photos to the detectives who were pretending to be a child,” sheriff’s officials said.
After the suspect asked to meet with “the child,” the detectives arrived at a predetermined meeting spot and arrested them, according to the news release.
Among those arrested in the sting operation was a former high school girls’ basketball coach in San Joaquin County. Ronald Ray Lovell, 56, of Tracy, faces five felony charges in Sacramento Superior Court.
Law enforcement officials reminded the public, especially parents, to be vigilant on websites and social media and monitor their children’s Internet usage and communications on social media apps.
“Online predators often pretend to be someone else in order to lure their victims in and take advantage of them,” officials wrote in the news release. “Teach your children to be wary of the person on the other end of the chat line; many times people are not who they say they are.”
