Standing at the front door of an unknown house in northern Gainesville on Feb. 1, Lenard Norman was already anxious about the police.
About four hours earlier, around 7 p.m., Norman responded to a Craigslist ad in the personal/casual encounters section. After exchanging emails, Norman learned he was chatting with a 14-year-old boy, according to the arrest report.
They kept talking. The boy said his parents were out of town. Norman, 24, told him he would swing by the house.
"Still i m a little worried about u being underage," he wrote. "Not looking to go to jail."
When he arrived at the house, Norman rang the doorbell. Four officers came outside, grabbed his hands, covered his mouth and pulled him to the ground. The "14-year-old boy" was really Gainesville Police Detective Scott Meffen Jr.
Norman, charged with three counts of obscene communication, was one of 21 men arrested as part of Operation Tailfeather, a joint investigation by GPD and the Alachua Country Sherriff's Office that began Jan. 30 and ended Monday morning.
Norman is a UF alumnus. He graduated last year from the College of Education, and was fired Monday from his job teaching second graders at Metcalfe Elementary School.
Norman is one of two defendants with known ties to the university. Matthew Gendron, 44, was arrested after telling a decoy that her 14-year-old sister could watch them have sex.
Gendron has worked for UF since 2001. He was a physician's assistant with the university's college of critical care in the anesthesiology department.
Gendron told the decoy that she and him having sex would be "an instructional video type of thing" for the her younger sister, according to police. He was placed on administrative leave with pay when the university found out about his arrest Saturday, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said.
"(Predators are) all walks of life," said Sgt. Todd Kelly, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office at a press conference about the arrests. "What does a sexual predator look like? It looks like everyone in this room. It can be anybody. ... Different colors, different financial needs, different educational backgrounds. It doesn't discriminate."
The investigation required two months of planning, about 40 investigators from throughout the state and an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Officer Art Forgey of the Sheriff's Office said the exact cost won't be known for a couple months because the investigation was complicated. Some of the money came from grants.
There was no particular reason for launching the investigation last week. It was just an opportune time to coordinate the operation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams said at the press conference. In addition to GPD and the Sheriff's Office, investigators were brought in from seven other law enforcement agencies within the state.
In preparation for the sting, investigators had to learn how to chat like children and lure predators. Last week, they spent hours texting, exchanging emails and chatting on instant messenger services. Officers used websites like Craigslist and Plenty of Fish.
"Predators are like wolves," Williams said. "They're looking for the sheep. They know where kids play; they know what kids like. The problem is we don't have any shepherds to keep the wolves away. We need to warn the sheep."
Williams, who has worked on child predator cases for 22 years, hopes he can turn the investigation into a federal case. Officers are still talking to the 21 men who were arrested, hoping the defendants will tell them if they molested children in the past.
Williams thanked the investigators, who spent hours each day during the sting discussing "despicable acts."
Suspects offered to teach teenagers how to have sex, demanded nude photos and brought gifts ranging from Starbursts to Victoria's Secret underwear.
One suspect, Jermaine Davis, 25, of Gainesville, brought a bottle of baby oil. When officers opened the door, he ran away.
He was caught soon after, and he had one desperate request.
"Can y'all just shoot me?" he asked. "My life is over."
