Lake City officers arrest 4 men caught in undercover child sex sting

LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) - Detectives in Lake City arrested four men after an undercover operation to catch people attempting to exploit children online.

Officers arrested James Michael Diehl, of Fort White, Alan Wayne Price, of Lake City, Albert David Moore, of Lake City, and Thomas J. Fortune of Jacksonville on various sex crime charges.

During the operation, investigators posted fake ads on websites frequently used for arranging sexual encounters, where they posed as underage teenage girls.

Officers say the four men engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the undercover detectives, believing they were underage girls.

“Operations like this are critical to protecting children from online predators who use the internet to target minors,” stated Chief Gerald Butler. “I want to thank our ICAC detectives, the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for their continued efforts to identify and arrest individuals seeking to exploit children in our community.”

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