WISCONSIN
WQOW
Eau Claire (WQOW) – Nine people, including a former church worker, have been arrested following an undercover child sex trafficking operation in Eau Claire County.
The men were arrested after responding to an online ads posted by police pretending to be underage children looking for sex or adults looking to traffic a child for sex.
Eight of the nine men were arrested for attempted second degree sexual assault of a child and other felonies. A ninth man, Douglas Regal, was arrested for possessing methamphetamine.
One of the suspects, Chad Shiffer, had been a youth director at Bethesda Lutheran Bretheren Church in Eau Claire. The church’s pastor says Shiffer led high school youth groups but has not worked with the church since last June. Several law enforcement agencies involved in the sting released details at a news conference Monday.
“Children are naive in a lot of different ways with the use of the internet for example or they haven’t reached that maturity level that adults have. And that’s why its against the law to entice and try to traffic and do those sorts of things to children. So it is an unfortunate thing in this world and we will continue to try and root out those people who are doing this to our children. So it’s a number one priority for us and it is quite frankly disturbing,” said Dan Bresina of the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office.
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