A high school band director. A youth group leader. A fireman. A county leader.
All are among the 82 people, including 31 in Georgia, who have been arrested and accused of sexually exploiting children in a multistate sting.
The sting, dubbed Operation Southern Impact III, was spread over three days recently and across eight southern states from Florida to West Virginia.
Of the 31 people arrested in Georgia, all were men except for one woman in Jackson County. Otherwise, Garner told Klaus the suspects' races varied and their ages spanned from 20 to 70 years old.
"We come across every profession, and there's no socioeconomic class that we arrest more than others," Garner said.
The people arrested in Georgia included a county employee, a fireman and a military veteran
In Georgia, most arrests were of people involved in the possession or distribution of child pornography -- some involving infants and toddlers. Seven people were arrested for allegedly planning to meet and have sex with a minor. Four registered sex offenders were among those arrested.
They were charged with crimes related to computer pornography and child exploitation. Some are in jail without bond.
"There is a actually a statistical correlation between those people who are collecting and viewing child pornography and those that are committing hands-on child molestation offenses," Garner said.
Seventeen children were rescued or identified as victims. All of them were in other states.
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