A black social worker has been arrested during a major investigation into a child foster care prostitution ring

Jean LaCroix, 46, who has been suspended as an investigator for Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), is accused of five counts of having sex with a vulnerable 17-year-old he was supposed to be protecting from abuse. LaCroix is the fifth man to be arrested as part of an ongoing probe into claims a ring of human traffickers was targeting and abusing neglected children in foster care in Miami. Four other men have been accused of using a child as a "recruiter" to lure young vulnerable girls from the care system into becoming prostitutes. The 17-year-old is said to have told Miami-Dade Police that she and the case worker had "consensual sexual intercourse on numerous occasions". According to a search warrant, LaCroix would pick the victim up from school and take her to his home where they would have sex. The warrant also states the victim was placed in the care of LaCroix for a month between September and October 2011, but phone records indicate that they had been engaged in a relationship for much longer - even after LaCroix was told to cut all contact by his supervisor. LaCroix is also accused of trying to flee the country.