GARDEN PLAIN — Seven people — including Garden Plain High School football coach Todd Puetz  and a 59 year old Hays man— have been arrested in a law enforcement operation targeting human trafficking, authorities announced today.

The arrests were made late Friday and Saturday nights, Wichita police Capt. Brent Allred said.

The special operation was conducted in response to a surge in the number of human trafficking cases in Wichita over the past couple of years, he said.

“It was a pro-active assignment due to the issues and problems that we have with child sexual predators in our community,” Allred said at a briefing held by police.

“I’d like to say it’s successful, but it’s really not, because when you get this many people, it’s kind of a sad commentary of what’s in our community.

“When you arrest this many people, you know it’s a problem.”

Five of the men are from Wichita, one from Garden Plain and one from Hays, he said. They range in age from 25 to 59.

All of them communicated electronically that they were interested in having sex with an underage girl, Allred said, and six of the seven made an attempt to meet with a girl for sex.

Another four people are under investigation and could be arrested later, Allred said.

He declined to offer many details about how the operation was conducted because authorities plan to do more of them.

The Garden Plain coach and teacher has been suspended from all duties, school district superintendent Tracy Bourne said today.  A relative of Puetz, who asked that her name not be used, said his family is “very supportive” of him.

Records show the others arrested in the operation were:

* Viraqd Weerappumac, 51, Wichita

* Reginald Shepard, 35, Wichita

* Joshua Hetzel, 26, Wichita

* David Walter, 59, Hays

* Chris Squires, 25, Wichita

* Kyle Miller, 25, Wichita

The three-day operation was a month in the making and involved the FBI, the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, the Wichita/Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit, Wichita police and Sedgwick County sheriff’s officers, Allred said.

Federal charges could result from the arrests, he said. Investigators will be meeting with the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office later this week or early next week to present evidence in the cases.