Lexington deputies arrest nearly two dozen men in online sting operation

Sep 2, 2022 12:38 AM EDT

Rochelle Dean,

Lexington Co., SC (WOLO) — The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department say they have been working undercover on a online sting operation for the last 2 months. Officials tell us the goal was to specifically target and nab people who they say had the potential to be a sexual predators as they attempted to get in touch with children on the internet for sexual activity. According to the undercover investigators twenty two men have been charged in connection to the operation.

Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon says these latest arrests bring the total number of people arrest in connection to the online sting operation to 33 individuals with the assistance of Lexington Police and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Koon said in a statement,

“The intent of these suspects in these communications is clear. They wanted to persuade, entice or coerce someone they reasonably believed to be under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity.”

Authorities tell us that no children were used or ever placed in harms way during the sting operation. Below is a list the men the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department says were arrested in their most recent online sting operation.