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Google PlayA child sex sting operation has led to the arrest of 11 men.
According to FOX 59, the three-day investigation was a joint effort between Johnson County, the Franklin Police Department, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana. Authorities reportedly spent months planning the multi-county probe, in which detectives set up fake online profiles posing as 14-year-old girls. The suspects allegedly messaged the bogus account about sexual acts and their fantasies, even after the detective made it clear they were speaking to a minor.
“To see those chats, and to see that individual describe to the officers what they want to do,” Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess told the outlet. “It turns your stomach […] They’re being pulled towards their sexual fantasy, and they think that they’re going to go live that fantasy out with a minor. Some of these folks will stop by a lingerie store, sex store, whatever, pick up items and bring with them.”
Investigators say the men, who were arrested last week, ranged in age from 19 to 49. Four of the suspects resided in Indianapolis, and the others came from various surrounding communities, such as Greentown, Bloomington, and Greenwood. All of the men reportedly traveled to Johnson County to meet up with whom they believed to be a young teenager. Some were accused of arriving with pornography, drugs, and even a gun.
“What’s going to happen,” Burgess asked. “Are they wanting to take this child elsewhere? Are they wanting to abduct a child?”
The 11 men have been identified as Jeff Hendricks, 49, of Unionville; Samual N. Kaufman, 20, of Bloomington; Joshua Lynn Sliter, 30, of Greentown; Derick Osvaldo Sosa, 19, of Indianapolis; Jason A. Thornton, 40, of Indianapolis; Francisco Bernardo Amaya Marquez, 25, of Indianapolis; Dylan Cole Muncy, 22, of Indianapolis; Chase Maxwell Reese, 30, of McCordsville; Nicholas Sorley, 22, of Sharpsville; James W. Thomas II, 35, of Greenwood; and Dustin Ussery, 35, of Anderson.
All of the suspects were hit with a range of charges, including sex crime child solicitation, resisting law enforcement, providing obscene material to minors, controlled substance possession of marijuana or hash, and possession of a firearm.
Burgess said the operation was the third child sex sting over the last couple of years.
“You have to work hard these days to protect your children from predators out there because they want to hurt your children, or they want to do some unthinkable things to your child,” he said.
