During a massive crackdown on child exploitation crimes throughout Southern California, authorities detained 265 suspects.
The Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Regional ICAC Task Force, which is made up of five counties—Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura—led the initiative, which was called “Operation Spring Cleaning.”
The goal of the operation is to find and apprehend child predators who take advantage of children online. Officers also attempt to rescue the juvenile victims that the suspects have targeted.
The operation was conducted in two stages between April 6 and April 19. In order to find and identify potential child predators, the first phase involved conducting undercover investigations on a variety of social media platforms.
Targeting suspects involved in the distribution of child sexual abuse materials, online exploitation, and other crimes against children, the second phase involved serving arrest and residential warrants throughout the five counties.
265 suspects were taken into custody for crimes involving child exploitation during the nearly two-week operation.
According to LAPD, many of them “held positions of trust within their communities,” and some were hired or assigned to a position that allowed them to interact directly with children.
As part of the massive crackdown, authorities also managed to rescue 27 children.
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The following are some of the offenses for which the 265 suspects were taken into custody:
- Having, disseminating, or creating content about child sexual abuse
- Unclean behavior with a child
- Having a lewd encounter with a minor
- Make contact with or try to make contact with a minor for sex
- Lewd and lewd behavior involving a minor younger than 14
- Trafficking in Humans
- Copulation by mouth with a minor
- Indecent exposure
- A child who is bothersome
- Providing a child with pornographic content for sex
- Not registering as a sexual offender with a conviction
- Numerous parole/probation infractions committed by convicted sexual offenders
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“These arrests underscore the importance of vigilance and cross-agency collaboration in safeguarding children from individuals who use their trusted positions to exploit and harm the most vulnerable,” LAPD stated. “The united efforts of the LA ICAC Task force and the community, in the fight against the online sexual exploitation of children, will surely assist in keeping the child predators at bay and allow our children to explore the internet without fear.”
The suspects’ identities were not made public by the authorities. The public is urged to visit takeitdown.ncmec.org to report possible child sexual abuse and have the content taken down.
“By reporting the potential child sexual abuse activity, you are giving a potential victim a voice when they are often silenced due to circumstance,” LAPD stated.
