INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An off-duty member of the Indianapolis Fire Department was arrested Wednesday during a Johnson County child solicitation sting, police said.

IFD on Friday confirmed the arrest of 45-year-old Carl Wemple, of New Palestine.

A release from Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess identified Wemple as one of 21 people arrested during a three-day sting operation that began Tuesday.

“Investigators began orchestrating this sting several months ago resulting in numerous individuals coming to meet what they believed to be a 14 or 15-year-old child,” the sheriff’s office said in a release.

The investigator posing as the child invited the suspects to meet in the 300 block of East County Line Road, where they were each taken into custody and transported to the Johnson County Jail.

“The internet sites that are used by these individuals to have sexual relations with juveniles are very disturbing. As the Sheriff of Johnson County, I would also say it’s quite common that offenders in these types of cases have explored these sites, met, or tried to meet an underage child for sexual gratification on prior occasions,” Burgess said in a release.

Wemple, a 17-year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department, has been suspended indefinitely without pay pending the outcome of the investigation, according to IFD Battalion Chief Rita Reith.

As of noon Friday, formal charges had not yet been filed.