Nineteen men have been arrested in a three-day police sting that targeted adults who used the Internet to prey on children across Northeastern Wisconsin.
The 19 were picked up Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a crackdown on sex predators by 11 police agencies. They dubbed the operation, run from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, “Operation Vanguard.”
The arrests announced Monday included that of a 40-year-old Shawano man who told authorities he drives a school bus for the Shawano School District, according to documents released by Brown County sheriff’s officials.
http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html
School superintendent Gary Cumberland said the man had applied for a job as a substitute driver with the Fond du Lac company that provides the district’s bus services, and had been undergoing training, but has not driven a bus for the district. Officials of the bus company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The man communicated via text message, email and telephone with a sheriff’s deputy who he believed was a 15-year-old girl, officials said. The man made it clear that he wanted to meet for sex, and bought condoms in advance of the meeting, officials said. He was arrested on suspicion of child enticement, and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.
Officials don’t think the man has had any sexual contact with students from the district, said Shawano County Sheriff Randy Wright, but the investigation continues.
Those arrested include six men in Brown County, five in Wausau and Marathon County, four in Shawano County, three in the Oshkosh area and one in Outagamie County, officials said. They face a variety of charges, including trafficking of a child, child enticement and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.
Brown County Sheriff’s Lt. James Valley, who led the investigation, said the operation had an impact on the problem, but said the issue is not likely to go away anytime soon.
“The willingness to prey on children is still out there,” he said. “The problem in (Northeastern Wisconsin) is still great. Could we do this (kind of operation) seven days a week? Absolutely.”
