18 Arrested in Underage Sex Sting

BRADENTON, FL — Eighteen people face a long list of criminal charges after the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office completed a multi-day underage sex investigation. The agency says two more arrests are pending in the case.

Operation Green Shepherd V kicked off on July 27 and continued through Monday. During that time, sheriff’s office detectives went undercover on the internet and set up in-person meetings with people who thought they were arranging sex with a juvenile, the agency wrote in a media release.

All 18 of the people arrested showed up at the predetermined location “believing they were meeting up with a juvenile for a sexual counter,” the sheriff’s office said.

Those arrested during the course of the operation were:

Trevor Allen Mann, 26, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex, 1 count of use of a computer to solicit a minor for sex, and violation of probation (on probation for grand theft)

Earnest William McCoy, 26, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Sajid Lugo, 19, of Polk County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Derek Hawkins, Derek, 26, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Scott Desimpelaere, 41, of Charlotte County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Jorge Caez, 38, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex, 1 count of Transmission of Materials Harmful to Minors

Beau Watson, 27, of Sarasota County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex, 1 count of use of a computer to solicit a minor for sex

Anthony Osterloh, 23, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

James Cochran, 47, of Sarasota County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex and 4 counts of Transmission of Materials Harmful to Minors

Stevenson Vassor, 23, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Ronald Humphries, 46, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Jacob Lopez-Hernandez, 28, of Orange County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Anthony Caroccia, 29, of Hillsborough County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Gary Shaw, 53, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex and 2 counts of Transmission of Materials Harmful to Minors

Matthew Hilmer, 22, of Collier County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

James Meyer, 34, of Sarasota County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex and 1 count of use of a computer to solicit a minor for sex

Juan Alvarez-Hernandez, 26, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Thomas Gottschalk, 59, of Manatee County

• Charges: Traveling to Solicit/Seduce/Entice a Minor for Sex

Before the operation began, deputies also worked with the Stroud Area Regional Police Department in Pennsylvania to investigate a Bradenton man’s activities. The sheriff’s office said the investigation led to the arrest of Loren Labrador, 31, on July 18. Labrador was charged with 16 criminal counts overall, including charges of unlawful contact with a minor and sexual assault. He is accused of meeting a victim online when she was 14 and then traveling to Pennsylvania to meet up with her. The victim is now 16, the sheriff’s office said.

Labrador is now in Pennsylvania facing the charges, the sheriff’s office said.

No further information about the arrests has been made available.

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