Those arrested included 24 men caught when they showed up at an undisclosed location with the intention of meeting a child for sex, Maj. Steven Tucker of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office said.
"They show up with sex toys, they show up with lubrication," Tucker said. "They show up with things that clearly somebody isn't going to show up to a house with, unless they intended to engage in sexual activity."
The 24 suspects were charged with attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and importuning, Columbus' WBNS-TV reported.
Christian Gibson, 26, left, a former church youth director, and Austin Kosier, 31, a medical doctor were both charged with attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and importuning, authorities say.
Tucker said he oversaw the investigation carried out by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Officers would pose as underage boys or girls online and communicated with the men in Internet chats.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the four-part simultaneous operation involved more than 30 law enforcement agencies. The probe also focused on nailing those who went beyond preying on children to have sex with them and also sought to sell vulnerable individuals into human trafficking.
Among those arrested, 36 men were charged with trying to buy sex and one man was arrested for promoting prostitution. Forty-three women were arrested for selling sex — they were connected with social services aimed at rehabilitating human trafficking victims, WBNS-TV reported.
"Wait! Let me get us an overhead shot with our newest toy, this 'surveillance drone.'
He gets it out of the packaging, starts it up, almost gives a closer crew cut to the Nazi team -"Sorry about that!" and after 35 minutes finally gets the perfect shot. (The poor bastards knees are swollen and destroyed by then.
R.C.