ST. AUGUSTINE — A Suwannee County man was one of nine men arrested during the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office’s “Operation Rip Current.”

The four-day operation was the fifth time in the past seven years that SJSO conducted an undercover operation that involved utilizing the internet to locate people who use it to sexually exploit children. Those five operations have now netted 75 total arrests, according to the SJSO.

Among those arrested was 59-year-old Curtis Lavon Duggan, of Live Oak. He was charged with use of a computer to solicit, seduce or lure a child for sex, traveling to meet a minor for sex and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. His bonds total $100,000.

According to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, during a follow-up investigation that led to Duggan’s arrest, investigators found more than 50 cannabis plants and 17 pounds of packaged cannabis at his residence. He will be transferred to Suwannee County after he faces his charges in St. John’s County.

The operation involved undercover detectives and agents posing as children online in an attempt to deter child predators from actual children, per the SJSO release.

The undercover investigators were contacted by numerous subjects and were exposed to graphic and disturbing subject matter, according to the release. Many of those subjects requested to meet in person to sexually abuse the child persona.

Others arrested were 28-year-old Habiel Isa Quiroz Carrasco, of Jacksonville; 31-year-old Gary Dale Hickey Jr., of St. Augustine; 22-year-old Matthew Joseph-Ryan Tatge, of Palm Coast; 23-year-old Joshua Ryan Solana, of St. Augustine; 46-year-old Richard Paul Roberts, of Daytona Beach; 22-year-old Nicholas Daniel Jewel, of Jacksonville; 26-year-old Ronald Blaine Stafford II, who is homeless; and 46-year-old Kenneth Brian Hanger, of St. Augustine.

The operation was led by the SJSO Internet Crimes Against Children Detectives under the auspices of the North Florida ICAC Task Force. Assisting agencies included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office in the 7th Circuit, the Alachua and Putnam county sheriff’s offices as well as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the St. Augustine Beach, Orange Park and Gainesville police departments.