Miami, FL: A 90-day sting operation in Florida resulted in the arrest of 123 people involved in a massive human trafficking ring throughout Florida.
The charges came after the men reportedly communicated online to solicit explicit activities with undercover officers posing as juveniles, according to a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office statement.
The number of arrests is huge and it includes many people of authority and belief. It included a church grief counselor, a science teacher, a nurse, and a basketball coach, Sheriff Chad Chronister stated at a press conference on Thursday.
He claimed that a number of the suspects believed they were conversing with undercover agents when they offered their children to the alleged perpetrators on behalf of family members of the minors. Some individuals believed they were conversing with minor girls and boys, but they were undercover agents, he added.
He stated that the defendant “knowingly intended to engage in explicit activity with each of them.”
Gregory Pfefferkorn, a nurse at a mental health and substance abuse facility, Christopher Barba, a basketball coach, and Adam Turner, a grief counselor at the Day Spring Episcopal Conference Center, are among the suspects, according to the sheriff’s office.
Barba allegedly went up to meet an undercover agent who seemed to offer him two teen girls, ages 14 and 15, for explicit activities for a fee of $150.
Among those detained was James Villacorteza, an elementary school teacher described by Chronister as “an individual trusted with shaping young minds.” He allegedly spoke with a person he thought was a 15-year-old kid, according to court documents. During their phone conversation, Villacorteza allegedly stated that he was afraid of getting arrested and that he intended to engage in explicit activities with the juvenile.
He set the meeting with the juvenile at a local Target store where he waited for at least 6 minutes before leaving. The next day, he was taken into custody at the school.
Chronister stated that some of the accused traveled to engage in explicit activities with the juveniles and that some of the men had guns with them.
According to court documents, they have entered a not-guilty plea. It is not clear if they have hired a lawyer to represent them.
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