LOS ANGELES—Authorities announced on July 26 that 139 people were arrested during a five-county, multi-agency operation that targeted internet crimes against children.
“Operation Online Guardian” was conducted earlier this month by the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes personnel from 102 agencies in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
“Child exploitation is one of the most horrendous crimes affecting our most vulnerable members of the community,” Joseph T. McNally, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said at a Wednesday morning news conference at police headquarters. “Through these crimes, predators target those who can’t protect themselves.”
Chief Michel Moore of the LAPD, which led the operation, was also among the numerous law-enforcement officials at the news conference.
In addition, the operation included police from Glendale, Long Beach, Laguna Beach, Burbank, Redondo Beach, Montclair, and San Bernardino, along with sheriff’s representatives from Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties and officials with Homeland Security Investigations.
“The LAPD [internet crimes against children] unit, as the lead agency, is the primary clearing house for all CyberTips, associated to the five southern California counties, received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the LAPD said.
“The CyberTips include reports from various Internet Service Providers and citizens reporting incidents that involve the possession, distribution, and manufacturing of child sexual abuse material, and the online sexual exploitation of children,” the police department said.
Authorities conducted Operation Online Guardian between July 10 and 21, the LAPD reported.
“The goal of [the] operation was to identify and arrest predators who are using the internet to facilitate the sexual abuse of children and to rescue children from [the] predators,” police said.
The LAPD reported the operation was executed in two phases.
“The first phase included proactive undercover investigations on a variety of social media platforms,” police said. “The second phase included the service of multiple residential search warrants throughout the five counties, in addition to arrest warrants, which focused on child predators.”
The 139 suspects were arrested on suspicion of various crimes—including sodomy of a child under 10 years of age, continuous sexual abuse of a child, lewd acts with a child, meeting a minor for lewd purposes/sex, contact/attempt contact with minor for sex, sending obscene matter to a child for sex, penetration with a foreign object by force or fear, sodomy, possession of child sexual abuse material, distribution of child sexual abuse material, child annoying, failure to register as a convicted sex offender, violation of conditions of parole, and violation of conditions of probation.
“During the operation, our dedicated investigators demonstrated their unwavering commitment and compassion as they embarked on a critical mission to protect the innocent,” the LAPD said.
“Through their diligent efforts, vulnerable children were rescued from further abuse, and victims who had been silenced by the atrocious crimes of child sexual abuse found their voices restored,” police said.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Program was developed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The mission of the task force program is to assist local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies with investigating internet-related crimes against youth.
The task force Program consists of 61 coordinated task forces and over 5,400 federal, state, and local law enforcement members.
“Although Operation Online Guardian has concluded, the LA task force will remain vigilant and continue their mission to protect our children,” the LAPD said.
“Despite the numerous resources that assist the LA task force in the battle against the sexual exploitation of children, there are victims who are unnoticed,” the LAPD said. “Therefore, we are asking the community for their help in this fight.”
Community members were urged to visit the website for educational internet safety tips and activities.
The community may also report potential child sexual abuse activity and have the harmful matter removed via the service “Take it Down,” hosted on the website.
“By reporting the potential child sexual abuse activity, you are giving a potential victim a voice when they are often silenced due to circumstance,” the LAPD said. “If you see something, say something.”
