BUNNELL, Fla. – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced the results of a multi-phase undercover cyber operation that rescued three human trafficking victims and led to 10 arrests.
Operation Innocence Shield targeted online sex trafficking and related crimes across Northeast Florida. The operation resulted in drug, firearm and vehicle seizures, and netted individuals with active fugitive warrants.
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“Members of our community who think they can find sex or advertise sex on the internet, you might just be talking to an undercover agent,” Staly said in a news conference on Tuesday.
According to Staly, investigators worked across three phases — arresting individuals connected to prostitution and drug offenses, targeting those seeking to buy sex through online ads and identifying suspected traffickers. A third phase remains active, with detectives investigating three suspected human sex traffickers and anticipating additional arrests.
The three recovered victims, all women between their early 30s and early 40s, were connected directly to support services rather than taken to jail.
“If you think you made one of those calls, it probably was,” he said. “You just didn’t show up.”
Anyone who believes they or someone they know may be a victim of human trafficking can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or the Florida Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-855-352-7233.
The sheriff was joined by members of the FCSO Cyber Crimes Unit, the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the 7th Judicial Circuit state attorney’s office, and the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.