LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Twelve Southland residents, including a former Covina middle school teacher, were among 255 alleged child predators arrested during a five-week federal operation, authorities said Monday.

Operation iGuardian, which was conducted in cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces across the country, ran from May 28 to June 30.

“The operation’s goal was to identify and rescue victims of sexual exploitation and to arrest their abusers as well as others who own, trade and produce images of child pornography,” Claude Arnold, Special Agent in Charge for HSI, said.

Among those arrested was 49-year-old John David Boyle, a former teacher at Royal Oak Middle School in Covina, who was arrested on June 5.

“Boyle was arrested after allegedly engaging in online chats with an undercover investigator, believing the special agent shared his sexual interest in young boys,” Arnold said. “Boyle then set up an in-person meeting in his middle school classroom for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity while watching child pornography.”

He has been charged with enticement, advertising child pornography online and distribution, receipt, attempted receipt and possession of child pornography.

David Jones, 28, was also arrested in the sting. Jones, a professional inline skater faces multiple federal charges of distributing and possessing child pornography.

From April 2009 to May 2010, the Topanga resident allegedly utilized several email addresses to upload numerous images of child pornography to Ning.com, resulting in more than 60 cyber tips being forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The ten other Los Angeles-area men arrested in sting were not identified by authorities.