A MAN from Rowley Regis is among suspects detained by police in an operation to target alleged child sex offenders.
The allegations are all connected to sexual exploitation of two teenage boys in 2009 and 2010 who were abused by a group of men who befriended them.
Officers have made nine arrests in the Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country, including Driver Alan Priest, 63, of Holly Road, Rowley Regis.
He is charged with two counts of rape of a boy aged between 13 and 15, a further four counts of sexual activity with a boy between 13 and 15 and facilitating or arranging prostitution or the involvement in pornography of a child aged 13 to 17.
Unemployed Ian Prestleton, 53, of High Haden Road, Cradley Heath, is also among the men arrested, he has been charged with rape of a boy aged 13 to 15, arranging or facilitating prostitution or the involvement in pornography of a child aged 13 to 17, engaging in non-penetrative sex with a boy aged 13 to 15 and causing or inciting a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.
A photographer from London has also been arrested in connection with the abuse of teenage boys.
The men will appear before Birmingham Magistrates on Tuesday August 18.
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