Six men arrested in undercover sex sting in collaboration with Chris Hansen in Martin County

Six men were arrested after a multi-day undercover sex sting in Martin County that also involved the crew of “Takedown of Chris Hansen,” authorities announced Friday.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said the suspects were arrested after they traveled to meet who they thought was a 14-year-old for sex at a house in Stuart. They believed the minor’s parents were at work, Budensiek said.

The sheriff’s office is also working to obtain arrest warrants for two more individuals who are not in the state of Florida.

Budensiek said investigators posed as children under 14 years old on several platforms over three days. He said they were solicited by multiple people, including the six suspects.

“You hope really that you’re not successful… but unfortunately these six individuals plus two more did come and did try to have sex with our undercover operators and were taken into custody,” the sheriff said. “We’re happy we got them off the street.”

Authorities worked with Chris Hansen, who hosts “Takedown with Chris Hansen” and previously hosted the show “To Catch a Predator,” which both follow Hansen as crews set up sting operations to catch would-be predators.

Budensiek said his office decided to involve Hansen’s show to showcase the work of the undercovers who “do phenomenal work” and cannot be in the spotlight.

“But more importantly than the work that they do, we’re educating the bad guys. We don’t want this,” he said. “If you come to Martin County and you try to take advantage of our youth, we are gonna arrest you, and yes, we will put you out on blast. We’ll put you on national news if we can.”

At the news conference, Hansen expressed his shock “after 22 years of doing this in some form or another that these guys still show up.”

The sheriff described the men arrested as “real bad people.”

One of the suspects, Roland Jean, arrived at the home to meet the teen on Thursday night with a firearm in his waistband, Budensiek said. Suspect Anier Soto was allegedly “furious” that the undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl did not look younger. Two others, Emerson Acabal Alvarez and Ricardo Ramirez De La Pena, are not legal residents of the United States. The sheriff said that another man, Giovani A. Molano, was reportedly also involved in an earlier sting operation, and now that authorities have been able to identify him, he will charged with those earlier crimes as well.

Hansen recalled rehearsed excuses that the men gave, including one who reportedly tried to convince Hansen that he was “the good Samaritan,” and that he went to the house because “he didn’t want to see this 14-year-old girl go down the wrong road.”

“He had worked on this excuse and honed it to the point where he thought he was going to get away with it,” Hansen said. “[He] even called his father during the interview. I talked to the father… that’s the collateral damage that breaks my heart in these cases.”

Budensiek said that as summer approaches, he encourages parents to be vigilant and have conversations with their children about the threats that exist online.