RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect revised arrest numbers provided by authorities. Five people were arrested, not seven.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office announced the arrests of five men following a three-day undercover operation targeting suspected child predators.
The operation, conducted with the help of 10 other law enforcement agencies, took place over three days at the end of July.
During the investigation, officers posed as children on several online platforms. Authorities said seven men contacted the undercover investigators seeking to meet for lewd acts.
According to investigators, four of the men showed up to meet who they believed were children but were instead met by law enforcement officers.
The five men arrested are from San Francisco, San Mateo, Daly City and Redwood City. The four men facing felony charges remain in custody.
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins urged parents to use available tools to limit their children’s interactions with strangers online and to have conversations about the dangers of online grooming.
“They are very clearly exploitative in nature, very clearly not appropriate relations between an adult and a minor,” Miyamoto said.
“You need to be monitoring what those conversations are. You need to be talking to your children about talking to strangers,” Jenkins said. “They think about talking to strangers in person, but we need to talk to them about the dangers of talking to strangers online.”
Parents looking for resources on how to protect children online can find information through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at icactaskforce.org .
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