3 arrested in east Georgia during multi-agency child sex sting, police say

POLK COUNTY, Ga. — Three men were arrested during an east Georgia child sex crime sting operation, according to the Grovetown Police Department.

The multi-agency sting began March 14 and ran through the following weekend, police said.

Called “Operation Sweet Tee,” Grovetown police said they teamed up with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force to catch online child predators.

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Investigators reportedly “engaged with over 1,000 individuals, via the internet,” and 157 of them were “verified adults” who “expressed a desire to meet for sexual activity,” despite being directly told they were speaking to a “child.”

In reality, the individuals in question were speaking with undercover agents and investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Army Criminal Investigations Division, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Community Supervision, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, the Navy Criminal Investigative Service, the Polk County Police Department and the Waynesboro Police Department.

Grovetown police said three men were arrested during the operation, while a total of 12 people indicated they’d travel to meet with a “child” for sex and offered to pay for it.

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Police also said one of the individuals identified as willing to travel was an out-of-state registered sex offender. Some individuals identified during the operation were said to live as far away as Chattanooga, Tenn.

In Georgia, the three people arrested during the operation were:

• Rubicel Castro-Cruz, 33 of Edgefield, S.C.
• Anthony Daquan Harley, 30 of Aiken, S.C.
• James Charles Waller, 31 of Evans, Ga.

All three were charged with a count of sexual exploitation of children and taken into custody at the Columbia County Detention Center, according to police.

The investigation remains active and ongoing, with police expecting more charges to follow. They said multiple electronic devices and two vehicles were seized as part of the operation.

Investigators are now working to identify the remaining individuals who they said were engaged in the solicitation, with additional charges and arrests expected.

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