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During the last two weeks members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit have been conducting undercover operations with the purpose of identifying and arresting online child predators. These predators commonly seek out young children using online social media platforms with the purpose of engaging with in sex acts. A similar operation was recently conducted by Walton Co. SO just weeks ago, yet “Operation Peek-a-Boo” resulted in the arrests of ten individuals. Those arrested so far by the OCSO solicited undercover agents posing as minors ranging from 11-14 years old. Their charges range from traveling to meet a minor for sex to use of a computer to solicit a minor for sex, and more. One of the suspects, Daniel Johnson, was previously arrested in Leon County during the same type operation. Sheriff Eric Aden said, “We can not let down our guard at any time. I want parents to realize these type predators have a large presence online and will sometimes spend months “grooming” juveniles in an effort to seduce them into either sending sexually explicit images or meeting them for sexual activity. Parents should monitor their children when they use social media platforms, to include interactions that take place on gaming systems. “
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