A teacher, police officer and minister were among 16 men arrested during a three-state sting operation to catch people seeking sexual encounters online with underage teenagers.
US police investigators created fake profiles on popular dating and chat platforms – such as Kik, MeetMe and Skout – and posed as teenagers. The officers identified themselves in online chats as 14 or 15-year-old boys and girls.
The sting operation spanned one week and was executed by a multi-agency task force that included state police in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
The undercover officers were contacted by the 16 men, who in some cases sent explicit photographs, according to prosecutors.
The men, who were attempting to arrange sexual encounters, then agreed to go to a house in Bergen County, New Jersey, where they expected to find the young people they had contacted at home alone.
The men arrested in the recent sting operation faced a range of charges in New Jersey, including attempted sexual assault on a minor, luring, possession of child pornography and attempted debauching the morals of a child.
Kevin Roth, a high school teacher in New York; Peter Tuchol Jr, a police officer from a suburban New Jersey town and Roger Arroyo, a travelling minister from Philadelphia, were among those arrested.
The other defendants ranged in age from 26 to 55 and included drivers for two ride-share companies, an executive for an internet service provider, a bank branch office manager, a barbershop owner, a dental hygienist and two takeaway food deliverymen.
The defendants were formally charged last week and all but one were released after detention hearings. They have been ordered to use the internet only for work purposes and are barred from unsupervised contact with minors.