The U.S. Attorney for Southern Illinois and the FBI have announced that 14 people including two from Lawrence County have been federally charged for attempting to engage in sexual activity with minors. The cases are the result of an operation involving multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies targeting online predators attempting to meet minors for sex. During the two day operation, undercover agents pretended to be minors in a variety of online texting, social media and message board platforms and apps. All those arrested contacted the profiles online, engaged in sexually explicit discussions with the agents and arrived at residential locations with the intent to engage in sexual acts with minors. All the defendants were charged between June 28th and 29th in U.S. District Court in East St Louis. The two Lawrence County arrests were from Bridgeport–27 year old Kayln Hoggat was charged with Attempted Enticement of a Minor and Attempted Production of Child Pornography and 35 year old James Sears with Attempted Enticement of a Minor.