WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - A sheriff's gang task force in northeastern Illinois has arrested 14 men on solicitation-of-sex charges.
A statement Wednesday from the Lake County Sheriff's Office says its gang task force went undercover this month as part of a federal and local law enforcement effort to target customers of prostitutes.
The arrests came in an online sting that used classified ads and encouraged men to travel to a location in Waukegan. When they arrived and offered money to undercover detectives for sex, they were arrested.
Sheriff John Idleburg says there's a correlation between those who pay for sex and the "involuntary servitude" of women and girls.
All the suspects were charged with solicitation of a sexual act, a class-A misdemeanor. They have court dates scheduled for Feb. 25.