Roger Handberg, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, discusses the work of the Intercept Task Force during a news conference last week. He is joined by Northeast Florida sheriffs, nonprofit partners and Florida Rep. Sam Garrison. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today.
Published on April 1, 2024 at 1:23 pm
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Local law enforcement officers have made 31 arrests for child exploitation and human trafficking since a coalition of five Northeast Florida law enforcement agencies began working together last year to better combat sex crimes.
Since the Intercept Task Force banded together in March 2023, local agencies have initiated hundreds of investigations and aided in arrests they say wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration.
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St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick said the results have been clear, “but there is more work to be done.”
“And we are just getting started,” Hardwick said. “We are truly just getting started.”
The group of law enforcement agencies said they have received 663 tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, initiated 583 investigations and served 85 search warrants across North Florida in cases involving the trafficking or exploitation of children. In addition, 18 offenders have been sentenced to roughly 150 years in prison.
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Members of the task force also have made eight arrests in connection with cases of sexual assault, video voyeurism and more.
The Intercept, or Interagency Child Exploitation and Persons Trafficking Task Force, includes the Jacksonville, St. Johns County, Clay County, Putnam County and Nassau County sheriffs offices along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security in Jacksonville.
The agencies are aided by Operation Light Shine, a nonprofit organization that works with law enforcement agencies across the country, providing support to stop the abuse of minors. In addition, the agencies receive support from the Tebow Foundation.
Roger Handberg, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, praised the agencies’ work as a benefit to local communities and the U.S. Department of Justice in catching criminals.
“The work that you are doing is saving lives,” he said during a news conference last week, “and it’s resulting in victims being rescued and offenders being brought to justice.”
Handberg cited a few examples of crimes investigated by the task force, including a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputy who tried to coerce a minor into sex and a Clay County coach caught taking video of students in the shower.
The task force takes on cases individual jurisdictions would investigate, State Attorney R.J. Larizza told Jacksonville Today, but the collaboration has made everyone more effective.
“We were all doing investigations, but now by creating this regional task force we actually share information that we might not get as quickly or at all without it,” Larizza said. “The more connected we are, the more cases we can make, and the more successful we’ll be.”
