JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested 29 men of all different ages and backgrounds following a multiagency investigation dubbed Operation Checkmate.
The undercover, multiagency operation began on April 27 and ended on May 2. In those five days, JSO’s Internet Crimes Against Children detectives posed as young teenagers and chatted with men attempting to lure them into sexual acts.
In addition to the 29 arrested, JSO says there are currently three outstanding arrest warrants, and more are expected to follow.
“The singular objective of this operation was to identify and arrest predators who solicit children online to engage in sexual acts,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said. “Undercover detectives posed as children [and] chatted online with adults. These adults solicited sexual activity and committed to engage in sex acts with purported minors at pre-arranged locations.”
The ages of those arrested ranged from 22 to 72.
JSO says five of those arrested, 45-year-old Jean Auguste, 42-year-old Jaime Castellanos Marin, 35-year-old Samuel Pinheiro, 31-year-old Javier Isidro Mendez and 30-year-old Elias Martinez Guerra, were in the United States illegally.
Multiple men, like 39-year-old Zachary Stitz and 29-year-old Jacob Futch, were non-first-time offenders. JSO says Stitz was already a designated sexual offender after he was arrested during a previous operation dubbed “Operation Social Bust” in Hillsborough County in 2021. Similarly, Futch was previously arrested for soliciting a girl for sexual activity during another JSO investigation, Operation Safe Summers.
Another non-first-time offender, Mikal Detoro, was a wrestling coach to a minor at the time of his arrest. Waters says upon arriving to a location where Detoro thought he was meeting up with a 14-year-old boy, the seats of his Jeep Wrangler had been folded down.
“The interior was carpeted with blankets, and disturbingly, the interior of the Detoro’s vehicle, or Wrangler, was outfitted with multiple cameras, and investigators also discovered sexual paraphernalia in the Detoro’s vehicle,” Waters said. “Currently, detectives are conducting forensic searches of the cameras and associated memory cards found in De Toro’s vehicle.”
Waters says Detoro has been previously arrested in Clay County for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after he was found in a car at night with two minor boys in pornographic material.
Another arrest was that of 61-year-old John Mullins. According to his LinkedIn, he’s an assistant security manager at a company that services multiple entertainment venues across Jacksonville. The police report associated with his arrest shows that Mullins engaged in a “sexually charged” conversation with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy named Kole.
“JSO puts the highest priority on the safety and security of our children, as the internet provides new and frightening opportunities for predators to victimize our children,” Waters said. “Our investigators, along with those of our partner agencies, will continue to proactively identify and apprehend child predators before they have an opportunity to act upon their perversions.”
Waters advised parents to check what their kids are looking at and who they’re talking with on their phones. He also says dealing with repeat offenders is frustrating.
“I think you should put them all in prison forever, that’s just my opinion, or we get rid of them completely, because my experience tells me that they can’t be cured,” Waters said. “Of course, I don’t control the judicial system, I’m not a state legislator, I’m a sheriff. So, I’m going to continue to work hard to make sure we do what we can do to get these people off our street.”
JSO says you suspect someone is trying to lure a child online, you can notify the Cyber Tipline at CyberTipline.org or by calling 1.800.THE.LOST.
You can find the full list of those arrested below:
- Billy East, 35
- Clifford Skaggs, 72
- Derrick Wilcox, 22
- Donald Seymore, 42
- Dustin Heffner, 37
- Elias Martinez Guerra, 30
- Giuseppe Gilbert, 23
- Jacob Futch, 29
- Jaime Castellanos Marin, 42
- Jason Gaines, 41
- Javier Isidro Mendez, 31
- Jay Kennedy, 28
- Jean Auguste, 45
- Jeremy Johnson, 33
- John Mullins, 61
- Leon Hicks, 43
- Mark Sullivan, 59
- Mikal Detoro, 44
- Nasib Amin, 23
- Nathan Ramirez, 29
- Quentin Quarterman, 28
- Rodcliff Wilson, 33
- Samuel Pinheiro, 35
- Sean Smith, 48
- Stephen Sheehan, 34
- Terry Rivers, 34
- Zachary Bradley, 25
- Zachary Stitz, 39
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