Sex sting operation nabs 14, including man who hit deputy with his car, breaking his leg
An online sex sting dubbed Operation Travel to Gavel, where police posed as children, netted 14 arrests, including an Ocala man who drove his car into a Volusia County sheriff's deputy and broke his leg, authorities said.
The sting was carried out on June 5, 6, and 7. The 14 defendants thought they were messaging with 13, 14, and 15-year-old boys and girls when they were actually communicating with undercover detectives.
A North Carolina man visiting Florida with his girlfriend and three children also ended up in handcuffs in the undercover sex sting, a Facebook post from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
The multi-agency operation involved law enforcement officers from the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Port Orange, South Daytona and Lake City along with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Seventh Circuit State Attorney's Office.
Among those arrested was Moshe Josue Delgado Juarez, 25, of Ocala, who accelerated his car into a deputy, fracturing his leg. In addition to being charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex, Delgado Juarez was also charged with aggravated battery and assault on law enforcement officers, aggravated fleeing with injury, and resisting arrest with violence.
Delgado Juarez was being held Tuesday, June 10, without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Joshua Lee Walker, 45, Lexington, North Carolina, who apparently wanted to do more than spend time with his girlfriend and three children in Florida, also ended up in handcuffs when he showed up to meet who he thought was a child, police said
Walker was charged with using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child, traveling to meet, and the unlawful use of a communication device to facilitate the commission of a felony. Court records show he is being held on $22,500 bail.
The other 12 arrested were Julio Cesar Real Chavarria, 33, South Daytona, Mathieu Merveil Kouatonou, 29, Orlando, Niegel George Johnson, 28, Daytona Beach, Sourab Chilakamarri, 26, Daytona Beach, Reinaldo Ray Medina Jr., 31, South Daytona, Carlos George Guebara, 51, DeLand, Kenneth Leon Baldwin Jr., 39, Daytona Beach, Thomas Edward McKee, 39, Port Orange, Patrick James Concree, 40, Kissimmee, Francisco Javier Jurado, 33, Orange City, Robert Scott Shipley Jr., 26, Vero Beach, and Joseph Alan Williamson, 55, Port Orange.
The suspects were charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex, using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, the Sheriff's Office said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Sex sting in Volusia County leads to 14 arrests
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