PCB police: Over three dozen arrested in spring break riot, child-sex sting

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Law enforcement officials say more than three dozen suspects have been taken off the streets in connection with a spring break riot at a Beach Walmart and a child-sex sting earlier this week.

Panama City Beach Police Department officials held a press conference Wednesday morning to unveil the arrests from Operation Rollback and Operation Rogue Wave.

Beach police were joined by multiple agencies for the two operations.

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Operation Rollback

Beach police charged 15 people in the March 26 riot at the Walmart at the intersection of Middle Beach and Front Beach roads.

"We utilized the video that these criminals were circulating themselves, trying to broadcast and trying to broadcast themselves committing these crimes and trying to gain some type of social fame," Police Chief J.R. Talamantez said. "We utilized that video to help identify them. There are 15 individuals that came to Panama City Beach and had so much fun here. We decided to try to invite them back."

All the suspects are from Alabama and range in age from 17 to 37. They face a variety of charges, including inciting a riot, felony criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and theft during a riot-related disturbance.

The riot took place during a chaotic spring break weekend, where officers with the Beach Police Department, Panama City Police Department, Bay County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol confiscated 75 illegal guns and arrested more than 160 people.

More than 100 people congregated in the Walmart parking lot during the riot and were shown on video taking over the store. According to PCBPD officials, rioters overturned shopping carts, raked items off store shelves, intimidated other shoppers and employees, and destroyed various areas of the store.

Talamantez said they are still investigating the case and looking for additional suspects.

Law enforcement officials said the arrests send a strong message to anyone coming to Panama City Beach with ill intentions.

"We want people to come to our community and enjoy our beaches and the many opportunities that we offer for recreation, but we do not want people to come here and think that they're going to terrorize our community like they may terrorize their communities back home," State Attorney Larry Basford said.

Talamantez added that law enforcement officials wanted to get ahead of any issues before the Memorial Day weekend, saying they already have detected a potential issue from a local business owner.

"One of the preparations that we did is we spoke to a business owner and local community about the certain act that he wants to bring to town," Talamantez said. "This act that he wants to bring to town has actually been investigated for a racketeering case involving homicide and money laundering, drug trafficking, a bunch of other things."

Talamantez said the business owner will get back to him this week about the event.

Operation Rogue Wave

Operation Rogue Wave resulted in the arrest of 21 men on various charges, with three other suspects still being sought on charges of transmitting harmful material to a child and solicitation of a child for sexual activity.

In the five-day sting from May 18 to 22, police said 13 people were charged with traveling to meet a child for sexual activity, six were charged with possessing and/or disturbing child pornography, one was charged with felony drug and weapons charges, and one was arrested on a sexual battery charge out of Alabama.

"These individuals jumped at the opportunity to try to have sex with a kid; 24 in this small beach town were taken into custody," Talamantez said. "They were trying to have sex with children. Let's put that in perspective. We are a small blip on a big map and we were still able to arrest 24 people and put them in custody for these offenses."

Rogue Wave was a multi-agency operation involving the 14th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office, the Bay County Sheriff's Office, the Panama City Police Department, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service.

"You can rest assured that if you're chatting with an underage person in Bay County for the purposes of having sex, you're probably chatting with one of us and if you download child pornography, we're going to know about it. And we're gonna come kick your door in," Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said.

Talamantez said it is important for parents and teachers to monitor their children online and to have a talk with them about the dangers of online predators.

"Have upfront raw communication with children. If you see something, say something, if you see something that might indicate that somebody has those types of tendencies and those interests that involve some type of sexual interest in children, we need to know about it. Period," Talamantez said. "But don't put your head in the sand. Don't pretend we live in a world where evil does not exist because time and time again, you see that it does."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach spring break riot, child-sex sting suspects arrested