A major undercover sting operation in Johnson County has nabbed 16 men who went online looking to have sex with children in the area, investigators said.
Instead of children, the men found investigators posing as 14- and 15-year-old boys and girls when they allegedly set up face-to-face meetings.
“Kids can’t consent to have sex,” said Commander Adam King, with Stop the Offender Program Special Crimes Unit in Johnson County. “They were coming here to rape children. Point blank.”
Within the four-day operation, police say they talked to 100 people online. The 16 who were arrested came from all parts of North Texas, driving as far as an hour-and-a-half to meet their victims.
One of the suspects, Jonathan Leever, is already a registered sex offender.
“They can be from anywhere,” said King. “They can jump in the car and drive in an hour or two just about from anywhere.”
The men thought they were meeting the victims at various parks and neighborhoods in Cleburne and Burleson, places where kids play every day, investigators said.
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“It’s scary in the sense that no one had any idea, myself included, that there were this many people looking for children on the Internet in this area,” said King, who has been in law enforcement for 29 years.
Instead, the suspects were met with officers from several agencies in Johnson County, arrested and brought to jail.
“Every time we put one in jail, the thought crossed my mind, 'How many times have they done this and got away with it before we caught them?'” said King. “I wish we knew. I wish there was some way to know.”
King said the special crimes unit is going to continue the undercover sting operations because there are still more suspects looking for underage victims online.
