Report: More than 100 arrested in Florida human trafficking sting

Florida deputies have arrested more than 100 people in connection to a fivemonth-long undercover investigation related to human trafficking, WFLA reported.

According to WFLA, Hillsborough County deputies ran the investigation from June through the beginning of November, monitoring websites and forums notorious for soliciting sex. They also watched strip clubs, massage parlors and motels.

Several women taken into custody during the investigation were debriefed by detectives to find out if they were being trafficked, WFLA reported. The women were offered support services made available through local organizations.

Sheriff Chad Chronister highlighted numerous trafficking cases during a press conference Monday, including a harrowing account of two men who attempted to meet up with a teenage girl for sex.

According to WFLA, 36-year-old Jason Fitzgerald and 29-year-old Luis Colon each met up with an undercover detective who posed as the stepfather of a 14-year-old 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,” Sheriff Chronister said. “Predators like this do not belong on the streets of Hillsborough County.”

The two men 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.