POLK COUNTY, Fla. — An undercover investigation in Polk County has resulted in 17 arrests.

What You Need To Know

  • "Operation Child Predator" went from July 27 to August 1

  • Suspects ranged in age from 26 to 47

  • Protect Your Children Project seeks to educate parents about the dangers of social media

  • More Polk County headlines

The Polk County Sheriff's Office said the suspects face nearly 50 felony charges that include traveling to meet a minor for sex, attempted lewd battery and use of a computer to seduce a child.

The investigation went from July 27 to August 1, with the results announced Tuesday.

In a news release, the office said: "The suspects communicated with and solicited who they thought were children between the ages of 13 and 14 for sex acts. The suspects showed up to an undercover location in Polk County at separate times to meet who they thought were children, to sexually batter them."

Detectives from the Auburndale Police Department, Orlando Police Department, Winter Haven Police Department and Orange County Sheriff’s Office participated in “Operation Child Protector.”

The youngest suspect arrested is 26 years old, and the two oldest suspects are 47 years old. They were all from the central Florida area, except one suspect who was here visiting from California.

Sheriff Grady Judd said people like the suspects arrested hang out in game rooms and other social media sites where you’re likely to find children.

“That’s the downside of social media. It’s made the predator easier to get to the children,” he said.

A Bay area group is urging parents to be more active of their child’s social media engagement.

“We have 14 million children in America between the ages of 10-17 that have full access to (an) open door of pornography and any type of website that would have access to child predator chat rooms,” said Tim Williams of the Protect Your Children Project.

He cited Tik Tok and Snapchat as being among the most popular apps for children.

The Protect Your Children Project aims to educate parents on how to safely and privately install security blocks on your child’s phone. Judd is supportive of the effort.

“Be all up in your children’s business when it comes to internet usage. Their safety depends on it,” he said.

Williams also told us about the Children Internet Protection Act. Its purpose is for schools and libraries to maintain filters on their Wi-Fi accessibility to receive what's called E rated funding.

Public service announcements about this will go out on Friday to parents in Polk County, Williams said.