Long Island police arrest 24 in internet sex sting

A lieutenant colonel in the US Army is among 24 men arrested for allegedly soliciting sex from children on the internet.

Lt. Col. Douglas Winckelmann, 48, was the oldest man snared in the month-long sting operation, Suffolk County police said.

The men were each charged with attempting to disseminate indecent materials to a minor. All but 11 of them were arrested at a private home where they thought they were meeting their online chat partner.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said that such large-scale busts were essential to stemming internet sex crime.

“It’s a very, very big deterrent,” he said.

One of the detectives who posed as a teenager said she attracted the attention of potential predators by casually mentioning that she “was not much into school” and spent unsupervised time at home.

“You didn’t have to do much,” Detective Jennifer Roberts told the New York Post. “Most of them were very aggressive.”