FBI announces nationwide sweep of child sex offenders, arresting 205

The Department of Justice (DOJ) executed a five-day nationwide crackdown resulting in the arrest of 205 individuals accused of child sexual abuse.

The effort, led by the FBI office in Kansas City, Missouri, resulted in 115 children rescued and underscores a federal commitment to combatting child exploitation everywhere, said a DOJ statement on the operation, dubbed “Operation Restore Justice.”

The crackdown, which involved all 55 FBI field offices, the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and U.S. Attorneys’ offices, targeted predators engaged in heinous crimes, including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, online enticement, and child sex trafficking.

“The Department of Justice will never stop fighting to protect victims – especially child victims – and we will not rest until we hunt down, arrest, and prosecute every child predator who preys on the most vulnerable among us,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “I am grateful to the FBI and their state and local partners for their incredible work in Operation Restore Justice and have directed my prosecutors not to negotiate” any plea deals to lessen the charges.  

FBI Director Kash Patel echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that “no predator is out of reach,” while crediting the operation’s success to partnerships with state and local law enforcement. 

“By leveraging the strength of all our field offices and our federal, state and local partners, we’re sending a clear message: there is no place to hide for those who prey on children,” said Patel.  

In Missouri, seven individuals were apprehended, with four arrests in the Western District and three in the Eastern District. 

Nationwide, the operation exposed a range of offenders, from a Minnesota state trooper and Army Reservist accused of producing abuse material while in uniform, to a former Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officer charged with trafficking minors, said the DOJ.  

Community vigilance proved pivotal, as seen in California, where a victim’s disclosure after an FBI school presentation led to an arrest within hours of the FBI visit.  

But an FBI official said parents are still the key.  

“They need to pay attention to what their children are doing online. They need to pay attention if there’s a change in behavior even around loved ones,” said Darren Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “And they really need to be involved in what their children are looking at on social media and the amount of time that they’re spending there and who they may be in contact with.” 

The crackdown comes as prominent child advocate and former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow discussed the problem of child sexual abuse with prominent podcaster Shawn Ryan.  

Tebow shared a map of the U.S. with 111,000 red dots, each representing a unique IP address where child pornography of victims under 12 years old was being downloaded or shared within the last 30 days. 

“And some people will say, ‘Okay, well, they’re just downloading and sharing and distributing it.’ But they’re not,” said Tebow. “55% to 85% are also hands-on offenders. And your average offender has 13 victims in their lifetime, 13 victims.”  

Tebow said that the latest crackdown doesn’t even deal with “streaming or sextortion or grooming or so many of the other issues” involved with child sexual abuse because the FBI doesn’t have the resources to go after everything. 

Cox called child sexual abuse “rampant,” but offenders shouldn’t get too comfortable.  

“The partnerships are extremely important, whether it’s state, local, federal or international partners, it’s very important to let the offenders know that they’re not out of reach of law enforcement, regardless of where they are,” he said.