In light of a recent Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) operation that led to the arrest of 13 men for crimes targeting children, I asked Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons about his agency’s ongoing efforts to protect children.
Sheriff Simmons discussed operations conducted in partnership with the FDLE and federal authorities that focus on Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) cases.
- “We have always had these task forces or these collaborations with our federal authorities,” Simmons explained. The recent operation arrested individuals, some traveling from as far as Alabama to meet with individuals they believed were underage victims.
Particularly concerning was the discovery that some suspects worked in positions of trust. “I think it was a bus driver or assistant bus driver, a helper and an individual, another individual that worked at school as well,” Simmons noted. “These people, they travel and then they try to meet up with these underage individuals.”
- The work takes a significant toll on investigators. “We have mandatory counseling for our deputies that are assigned to these particular investigations,” the Sheriff revealed, adding that rotation is necessary because “you don’t want to see that. You don’t want to hear from that all the time.”
The Sheriff urged parents to remain vigilant, noting that predators use gaming platforms and hidden messaging apps to access children. “They want to have access, unfiltered access to your children,” he warned. “What they try to do is they try to think like a preteen so that they can gain that trust and gain that familiarity, and then it’ll weaken or lessen their suspicion.”
Parents can install monitoring apps to track their children’s online activities and conversations across all platforms. Watch podcast.
Operation Twelve Parsecs
Last week, a recent multi-agency operation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) resulted in the arrest of 13 men for crimes targeting children in Escambia County and the broader Gulf Coast region. The sting, called “Operation Twelve Parsecs,” was a five-day online initiative conducted in partnership with several state, federal, and local agencies, including the Florida Highway Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Marshals Service, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, and others.
- The operation specifically targeted individuals who were engaging in sexually explicit or harmful communication with minors, transmitting child sexual abuse material, and arranging in-person meetings for sexual activity with what they believed were minors. Undercover agents posed as minors online and interacted with suspects, leading to controlled arrests when the suspects attempted to act on their intentions.
Thirteen individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 70, were arrested and charged with various felonies. Several of the suspects are from Pensacola or nearby communities.
Charges include:
- Seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct
- Traveling to meet a minor for sexual activity
- Use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Transmission of harmful material to a minor
The cases will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office of the First Judicial Circuit.
