Seven suspected child predators have been handcuffed and hustled off to jail in Chatham County, thanks to "Operation Nightfall," a sting operation designed to trap online creeps seeking to exploit children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) announced on April 17. The operation was a collaborative effort, enlisting the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the GBI's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Savannah Police Department, among other agencies.

The seven men, charges with a list of offenses including Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention, Child Molestation (Criminal Attempt), and in some cases Aggravated Child Molestation (Criminal Attempt), were nabbed after months of meticulous planning by law enforcement, which consisted of undercover agents posing as minors online and the perps were lured into a web of deceit starting last Friday, culminating in the operation that swept them off the streets, GBI reported.

In what reads like a who's who of the depraved, the suspects range from a 50-year-old unemployed man to a 41-year-old dialysis technician. Each took the bait, set by officers posing as youngsters online, traveling from across the county to meet what they believed were children waiting for them but instead, they found police ready to slap cuffs on their wrists. The suspects' intent, say authorities, was to carry out sexual acts with minors, an assertion backed by the seizure of 10 electronic devices now being forensically processed for evidence.

The operation sounded the alarm on a chilling fact that predators don't shy from grooming potential victims on even the most innocuous websites, with undercover investigators engaging in over 265 conversations across various platforms. They found offenders brazen in their attempts to sexually exploit children, with individuals like 59-year-old Henry London Taylor III, also charged with possession of cocaine, and Bobby Edward Crews-Couch Jr., who now faces an added count of Possession of Firearm During Felony, according to the GBI.

The agencies participating in "Operation Nightfall" are part of the wider Georgia ICAC Task Force, which comprises 290 law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. The task force's overarching mission is to develop an effective response to cyber enticement and child pornography, offering training, technical support, and aid to victims. Anyone with information on these cases or others involving child exploitation is urged to contact the GBI or submit tips anonymously through the GBI's website or the national CyberTipline.