An Alabama sting operation swooped up 11 men, including an Alabama state trooper, in an operation late last week targeting men who were soliciting children for sex

Ryan Christian Rhodes, 26, reportedly resisted arrest by Montgomery County deputies, Assistant Chief Deputy Wesley Richerson told WSFA.

“During the arrest, I was advised by our staff that he did resist, was belligerent, and they had to forcibly take him into custody,” Richerson said. “We target criminals, and it does not matter to us the profession, their social status, their income. If they commit the crime, we’re going to arrest them, and we’re going to charge them to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that Rhodes was allowed to resign his post on Friday.

“The resignation follows his arrest by deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for Electronic Solicitation of a Child, Traveling to Meet a Child for an Unlawful Sex Act and Resisting Arrest,” the agency said. “The arrest is a result of an ongoing investigation led by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Any further inquiries regarding the arrest or investigation should be directed to the Montgomery Sheriff’s Office.”

Also arrested in the two-day operatoin were  Dai Xing Chen, 45; Subin Choi, 34; James Clifford Grier, 44; Michael Lynn Hester, 54; James LeGregory McGhee, 47; William Robert Ogburn Jr., 44; Justin Gregory Tomberlin, 36; Joseph Carroll Vasseur III, 38; Owen Delma Walker Jr., 57; and Qu’Darrius D’arcy Ja’Quan White, 24.

“It ain’t about us talking to the people that live here,”Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said. “We’re talking to the people that want to come here and prey on our young people. This message today is saying ‘no.’ This message coming from us today, if you want to come into our county and do this, ‘no.’ This message today to you should be that you should see what’s going on around our state. We in law enforcement are sick and tired of it, and we’re putting an end to it.”

Richerson said the operation focused on men soliciting minors for sex through online chat rooms and social media, then traveling to meet them.

“They were met by law enforcement and are no longer a threat to our community,” he said.

Each of them men were jailed on a $500,000 bail, Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey, and about half of them have bonded out.

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[Featured image: Former Alabama Senior State Trooper Ryan Rhodes/Montgomery County Detention Facility]