An undercover sting targeting child exploitation led to the arrests of 15 people in central Alabama.

The operation was carried out Thursday and Friday in Montgomery County.

Those taking part were the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Montgomery Police Department, the U.S. Marshals and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.

“This is something serious,’’ Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said during a Monday press conference. “This is something we’re not standing for and it’s something we addressed.”

The massive sting took several months of training and planning.

Assistant Chief Deputy Wesley Richerson said they were targeting people who prey on children. Those arrested, he said, communicated online with who they believed to be children and agreed to pay them for sex acts.

Montgomery police Chief Darryl Albert called the suspects “the worst kind of predators’’ and District Attorney Daryl Bailey said, “the children of Montgomery are a little safer today.”

To parents, Richerson said, “Please review and monitor what your children are doing online and who they are taking to. You would not leave your front door wide open – your child’s phone, if unmonitored, is an open door to their life.”

“This operation surpassed all expectations,’’ said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Dante Gordon.

Those charged with first-degree human trafficking, electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act are:

– Leon Johnson, 50

– Malik Hazama, 36

– Key Darine Dashun Coley, 28

– Jesus Alejandro Lopez-Vicente, 32

– Jalen Miller, 22

– Anthony Allen, 22

– Jordan Addison Dukes, 30

– James Earl Ellis, III, 28

– Robert Anthony Lusco Jr., 56

– Quentin Lamar Jones, 26

– Johnny Lee Timmons, 29

– Flanzy Lee Harris, 43

– Al’Shon Tupactre Latrell Walker, 21

– Jarvis Frost, 25

– Charity Devontay Wright, 24

Five of the suspects have been released on bond. Ten others remained held Monday in the Montgomery County Detention Center.