TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities have arrested over 100 people in a human trafficking operation in Central Florida.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests of 104 suspects after the completion of “Operation Trade Secrets II.”
Investigators said among those arrested included two men, 36-year-old Jason Fitzgerald and 29-year-old Luis Colon, who met individually with an undercover detective who posed as the stepfather of a 14-year-old girl.
Deputies said the men were under the impression that the undercover detective was selling his daughter for sex, and they arranged a time to meet up with the girl.
“Fitzgerald and Colon showed up at a trailer park in North Tampa. They began negotiating a price for sex with the child, and when they were told they could take their pick, having sex with a 14-year-old girl or a 13-year-old girl inside one of the trailers, they jumped at the chance to be with the even younger girl,” said Hillsborough sheriff Chad Chronister.
Fitzgerald and Colon were arrested and charged with human trafficking for commercial sexual activity, traveling to meet a minor to solicit certain illegal acts and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
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