Four north Georgia men were arrested over the weekend in an undercover investigation by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) targeting online child predators.
“Investigators conducted Operation Vigilant between Friday, Aug. 21, and Saturday, Aug. 22, with assistance from the Floyd County Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation,” sheriff’s office spokesman Derreck Booth said .
“During the operation, the four suspects arranged to meet people they believed were juveniles for the purpose of engaging in sex acts. All four suspects offered money in exchange for sexual encounters with the “minors,” who were actually investigators posing as juveniles online,” Booth added. “Investigators then traveled to the prearranged locations and took the suspects into custody. The arrests occurred without incident at various public places in south Hall County.”
Bobby L. Burrell-Whitfield, 42, of Gainesville, was charged with electronic exploitation of a minor. Burrell-Whitfield was arrested Friday evening. The three other suspects are each charged with one count of trafficking a person for labor or sexual servitude and one count of electronic exploitation of a minor.
Fredtriel Locklin, 34, of Bethlehem, was arrested early Saturday morning. Jose Donneys-Rendon, 57, of Lawrenceville, and Neville Warren Mercado-Nieves, 34, of Talmo, were both arrested Saturday afternoon at different locations.