Three of the 18 men who were arrested as part of a Lee County operation targeting online sexual predators are registered sex offenders in Florida.
Paul Newport, 50, of Cape Coral, Sean Declet, 33, of Fort Myers and Robert Blackwell, 43, of Sarasota, are listed on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sexual Offender/Predator System online search site.
The investigation, called Operation Picket Fence, was a five-day, multiagency undercover procedure that ran from Wednesday to Sunday and took several months to plan, Lee County Undersheriff Carmine Marceno said during a news conference Monday.
In December 2016, Newport was found guilty of traveling to meet a minor to commit an unlawful sexual offense.
A report from the 2016 arrest of Newport said he had used the Grindr online dating site to make contact with a presumed 14-year-old boy and arrange to meet him
He was arrested after driving from Cape Coral to an arranged meeting site in Lee County where undercover officers were waiting.
In addition to a 54-month sentence under sexual offender probation, Newton was to undergo a sexual offender treatment program and have no contact with children under 18.
Previous cases against Declet were filed in Pinellas County in 2006 and Lee County in 2010.
The Pinellas case involved charges of possession of a photo of sexual performance by a child and use of the internet to solicit or attempt to solicit a child for sex. He was found guilty on both charges.
The Lee County case involved a charge of failure of a sexual offender to comply with registration. Declet was found guilty.
The 2012 Manatee County case on Blackwell involved lewd and lascivious exhibition on a victim under 16. He was found guilty.
Information on the other 15 men arrested was still being processed by the Lee County Sheriff's Office and not yet available.
Arrested during Operation Picket Fence
Anthony Valdes
Leon Chaney
Karl Wehrheim
Chance Butner
Sean Declet, Fort Myers
Robert Meaghan
Nicholas Porreca
Robert Blackwell, Sarasota
Aaron Blumberg
Carlos Canela
Sameh Mansour
Joseph Mainini
David Rodriguez
James Depasquale
Kevin Jonker
Estevan Balsamo, Punta Gorda
Thomas Hines
Paul Newport, Cape Coral
Note: Cities of residence of most of the men have not yet been released due to the ongoing investigation, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said.