Police in Florida have arrested 56 child rapists in a major pedophile ring bust, according to reports.
Florida’s Osceola County Sheriff’s Office announced that dozens of arrests were made during an operation led by United States Marshals focusing on child rapists.
“Operation Bad Apple” was conducted from March 28 until Friday.
“The operation had a primary focus, but not limited to; sexual offenders and sexual predators who have prior state or federal convictions for production, transmission, and/or possession of child pornography/sexual performance of a child; transmission of harmful material to a minor; or video voyeurism,” the sheriff’s office said in its press release.
The operation yielded “56 arrests of sexual offenders and predators in reference to violations of their statutory sex offense restrictions and or new law violations,” the statement said.
“All arrestees were booked and transported to the Osceola County Jail,” the statement added.
The Justice Department’s website describes child pornography as a type of child sexual exploitation.
“Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (persons less than 18 years old),” it states.
It continued:
“Images of child pornography are also referred to as child sexual abuse images.”
“The expansion of the Internet and advanced digital technology lies parallel to the explosion of the child pornography market.“
“Child pornography images are readily available through virtually every Internet technology, including social networking websites, file-sharing sites, photo-sharing sites, gaming devices, and even mobile apps.”
“Child pornography offenders can also connect on Internet forums and networks to share their interests, desires, and experiences abusing children, in addition to selling, sharing, and trading images.“
