dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

12 alleged online predators arrested during sting operation targeting children

The Utah Attorney General’s Office recently launched a statewide sting operation to address the growing number of child pornography cases that make up a $13 billion industry that continues to grow each year.

Thesting operation conducted by the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force dubbed “Statewide Proactive Chat”was a collaborative effort involving 27 agencies that joined forces to identify and weed out illegal sexual contact and pornography involving children.

The task force was launched by the Utah Attorney General’s office in 2000, and is one of 61 programs nationwide.

During the week-long series of sting operations officers intercepted messages and pornographic images involving children from Ogden to Cedar City – efforts that resulted in a dozen arrests, eight search warrants 13 investigations that were opened in cases that are still pending.

There has never been a better time – considering that in 2020, the number of cases exploded, and during that year alone, there was a 600% increase in the number of cases that were forwarded to police for follow-up, said Richard Piatt, Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director at the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

“And it keeps getting worse,” Piatt said.

During the week-long operation, officers intercepted messages and videos and images involving children from Cedar City to Ogden – a mission that resulted in a dozen arrest, eight search warrants and 13 pending cases.

It wasn’t only the number of reports that increased, according to ICAC Commander Alan White, who went on to say the age of the victims that agents were finding were younger – even toddlers, he said, and agents were also seeing cases involving younger victims more often.

https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2022/06/11/cgb-12-alleged-online-predators-arrested-during-sting-operation-targeting-children/