A Halton police “John Sting” has led to the arrest of six people who allegedly arranged meetings for sexual services with an individual who they believed was a minor.
Members of the Halton Regional Police Service Human Trafficking Unit conducted the sting over a three-day period this week.
Police say that during the investigation, dubbed Project Lonestar, a number of individuals “arranged meetings for sexual services” despite being advised that they were communicating with a 15-year-old girl.
Police ultimately arrested six people in connection with the investigation.
Those individuals are each charged with communicating for the purpose of obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person under the age of 18.
“Our service will continue to utilize proactive and preventative measures such as Project Lonestar to identify, prosecute and hold accountable those who would engage in the predatory victimization of our most vulnerable,” Insp. Dave Costantini said in a press release.
Police say that they will not released the names of the individuals charged at this time “due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.”
The arrests comes just days after Ontario Provincial Police announced the results of a similar investigation, in which 10 suspects who allegedly intended to lure and sexually exploit underage victims were arrested.
