At least two children were rescued and tens of thousands of images of child pornography were recovered in a wide-scale sweep that targeted suspected child sex predators across Northern California, Sacramento County Sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Months of investigation by detectives from the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Task Force/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force culminated in the three-week September crackdown on 21 locations in nine Northern California counties that authorities dubbed “Creep Sweep.”
The multi-agency task force’s work led them to locations in Yuba, Sutter, Yolo, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Siskiyou, Mendocino, and Nevada counties.
“The suspects were from various occupations and backgrounds, including a pilot, scientific researcher, parents, mechanics, IT, independent contractors, engineers, and some retired individuals,” Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Amar Gandhi said in the Thursday statement.
For months, the detectives tracked those gathering, collecting and sharing the illicit images over the internet. They honed in on specific targets “based on their higher level of sophistication, the quantity of files they have shared, people in positions of trust, and potential access to live victims,” sheriff’s officials said in announcing the operation.
At one location, authorities freed two children under four years old suspected of being sexually assaulted by a relative. At another, a suspect was found to have more than 4,600 files of what authorities labeled child sexual assault material and more than 27,000 files of child erotica.
Caches of electronic devices and compact discs storing yet more images were recovered from still more residences, authorities said.
Authorities said at least one of the suspected offenders quit their job and fled the country on hearing of the task force’s operation. At least two of the cases are being reviewed for potential federal charges.
Nearly 30 law enforcement agencies including Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Folsom police, Placer County Sheriff’s Department and Sacramento County Probation Department were part of the operation, Sacramento deputies said.
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