Bay Area Suspects Among 245 Arrested For Child Porn

(Update 8:15 pm: An earlier version of this story, based on incorrect information from federal officials, reported that a San Leandro person was among those arrested. Government spokeswoman Virginia Kice emailed Patch Thursday night to to say: "The original report about an arrest in San Leandro was erroneous . . . I apologize for the confusion.")

Suspects from San Jose, San Francisco and Sonoma County were among 245 individuals arrested by federal agents in a five-week sweep of alleged producers, traders and owners of child pornography.

The arrests were made between November 1 and December 7 and announced Thursday by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit.

One hundred twenty-three victims of child sexual exploitation were identified during the operation, federal officials said.

Of that number, 44 children were directly rescued from abusers and 79 were identified as either being exploited by others outside of their home or are now adults who were victimized as children.

The arrests and rescues were part of what federal officials called Operation Sunflower -- a name that commemorates the one-year anniversary in which the identification of a sunflower-shaped highway road sign led to the rescue of an 11-year-old girl in Kansas.

"The sexual abuse of young children, often at the hands of people they trust, is a particular wrong," said ICE Director John Morton. "Whenever our investigations reveal the production and distribution of new child pornography online, we will do everything we can to rescue the victim and prosecute the abuser."

HSI and partner law enforcement agencies arrested 245 individuals during the operation.

The victims

Of the 123 victims identified during Operation Sunflower five were under the age of 3; nine were ages 4 to 6; 21 were ages 7 to 9; 11 were ages 10 to 12; 38 were ages 13 to 15; and 15 were ages 16 to 17.

Twenty-four of the victims identified are now adults who were victimized as children.

Seventy were female and 53 were male.

HSI victim assistance specialists, located in offices around the country, provide direct assistance to victims and families, and work with both child and adult victims to provide referrals for services and resources in their area. The specialists remain involved during the investigation and often beyond the sentencing of the perpetrator.

Focusing on Victim Identification

In 2012, HSI special agents, working closely with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), partially identified multiple individuals across the country who were sexually abusing young children and taking photos or videos of the acts. Special agents worked with the Department of Justice and its Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to issue national Jane and John Doe warrants to arrest these perpetrators and rescue their victims. The most recent case was solved two weeks ago in Florida.

Now, the public's help is being sought with any leads that can help provide clues in several cases and rescue more victims.

"We applaud our partners at ICE for their worldwide work in identifying these victims of child sexual exploitation and for helping to remove these children from extremely dangerous situations," said NCMEC CEO John Ryan. "We know that there's more work to be done. Anyone could know these victims, not knowing that they're being harmed. They could be your neighbors' children, your child's classmate, or even your own child. We thank Director Morton and everyone at ICE for their strong commitment to rescuing the most vulnerable of victims."

The Sunflower Case 

The Sunflower case began in November 2011 when Danish law enforcement officials shared with HSI their discovery of material and posts on a chat board indicating that a 16-year-old boy was planning to rape an 11-year-old girl. The suspect was soliciting advice on a pedophile board and posting images of the girl. One image held a clue that proved to be invaluable to investigators: a yellow road sign visible from the window of a moving vehicle. The road sign depicted a sunflower graphic that was unique to the State of Kansas.

For days, HSI special agents drove in pairs along Kansas highways, seeking a comparison between the images in the photos and the actual locations. Just 13 days after receiving the material, and by combining sophisticated photo forensics with traditional law enforcement methods, special agents located the residence in a small Kansas town. These efforts made it possible for law enforcement to intervene and rescue the girl before she was further victimized.

Additional Statistics and Information

Operation Sunflower was conducted as part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to NCMEC, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

Learn more about Operation Sunflower's Significant Cases and Unsolved Cases.

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