Volusia County Sheriffs organized “Operation PredaTour 2015” to coincide with Daytona’s Bike Week because “pimps and johns alike are known to bring the illegal sex trade into the area for special events such as Bike Week.”
“This is the worst of the worst,” Sheriff Ben Johnson said in the statement. “When you’re trying to deal with a child to have sex, and you’re a grown man
The department carried out two stings during six days of the fest. Twenty-two men were arrested for attempting to have sex with a minor during a child predator operation. Another 19 people were booked on prostitution charges in a second leg of the sting. Two more face child pornography charges.
The nearly week-long dual busts included the arrest of a former New Smyrna Beach police officer, Raymond Smith, FOX 35 reported. The 47-year-old was booked after deputies found child porn found on his work cell phone, authorities said.
The department organized the online predator leg of the tour by allowing deputies pose as 13- and 14-year-old girls on social media. They engaged with older men and talked about having sex. In one case, a predator commented, “I can get in big trouble playing with you,” the department said.
When the men made arrangements to meet up with the girls for sex, they were told to go to a house in the area. Cops were waiting inside to arrest them.
The deputies ran a prostitution bust as well, with undercover cops posing as men looking for sex and prostitutes looking for customers.
Most of the charges were for human trafficking and solicitation to commit prostitution, but “a 37-year-old woman was charged with battery after she grabbed an undercover agent’s crotch to try to ensure that he wasn’t a law enforcement officer,” the department said.
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