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10th arrest made after St. Johns County sex sting

Undercover detectives posed as children online in Operation Rip Current

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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A tenth man was arrested Friday in connection to an undercover operation that targeted people online seeking to have sex with minors, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

Francis John Hill, 52, of Jacksonville, was arrested and charged with using a computer to solicit a child for unlawful sexual conduct, use of a computer to solicit a parent or guardian of a child to commit an unlawful sexual act with a child and unlawful use of a two way communication device to
facilitate a felony.

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On June 6, the Sheriff's Office announced that within four days, Operation Rip Current led to nine arrests of men from Northeast Florida. One of those arrested was a previously convicted sex offender.

READ: 9 men arrested on sex charges in St. Johns County sting

The undercover investigators were contacted by several men and were exposed to graphic and disturbing subject matter during contact with potential child predators, the Sheriff's Office said. Many of those subjects aggressively requested to meet in person for the purpose of having sex with children.

Over the past seven years, St. Johns County undercover operations using the internet to locate and identify people looking to sexually exploit children have led to 75 arrests.


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