Law enforcement agencies partnering with the Florida Sheriff’s Association have started carrying out online stings to catch sex offenders, said Sheriff Ben Johnson, president of the association.
“The Internet makes the world so small that people are targeting children everywhere,” Johnson said. “We are going to go wherever we can to get them off the streets.”
On Sept. 12, the Florida Sheriff’s Association announced it was “declaring war on the online predator epidemic by sharing its Cyber Sexual Predator Initiative with any Florida law enforcement organizations that would like to implement this program in their communities.”
Six days earlier, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced it arrested 15 men in an undercover Internet sting in Volusia.
“The sad thing is how quickly these offenders jumped on it,” Johnson said. “It makes you wonder how many times they have gone out and made a victim.”
What was alarming about the sting was how willing the sex offenders were to accept offers of children for sex from detectives posing as parents.’
Now if these sexual predators of children are convicted,and they have any sort of drug or alcohol problem-where do you think the courts send them to? Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, with no warning to the groups or the minors. Both AA/NA promote people and minors to come to these meetings when they are fully aware the dangerous demographic make-up of many AA/NA meetings. The Sheriffs Office should investigate how many sexual predators are attending meetings with children and teens present in Daytona Beach Florida and the rest of the state.Actually this is a national issue. The judicial system needs to stop mandating AA/NA attendance to sexual offenders and violent felons,especially with the judicial system and probation officers having full knowledge of this practice that puts minors in great danger.Many minors have been harmed and will continue to until this practice of mixing sexual offenders and minors together stops.