In a sweeping five-day operation conducted this month, the FBI arrested 205 suspected child predators and rescued 115 children as part of a coordinated effort with the Department of Justice, reports National Review.
The initiative, dubbed Operation Restore Justice, was unveiled on Wednesday by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. The two officials issued a forceful warning to those still preying on children nationwide.
“We will find you. We will arrest you, and we will charge you,” Bondi stated during a press briefing that lasted approximately eight minutes. “If you are online targeting a child, you will not escape us. The FBI and the Department of Justice will come after you. And we will prosecute you.”
According to a press release from the DOJ, the individuals taken into custody face serious allegations, including the creation and circulation of child sexual abuse material, luring and transporting minors, and child trafficking. Bondi emphasized that, if found guilty, many of the suspects could face life sentences.
Among those charged are Jeremy Francis Plonski, a Minnesota state trooper accused of producing child pornography while employed in law enforcement; Linwood Barnhill, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department and a registered sex offender, accused of coercing minors into commercial sex acts for profit; and Jose Alexis Valdez Sosa, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico charged with transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. These arrests took place in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, Virginia, respectively.
“These are just three examples that show you the extent and the depravity of these horrific crimes, and we need to team up together with the American public to find the rest,” Patel said.
The operation involved personnel from 55 FBI field offices and corresponding U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. During the press conference, Bondi also issued a plea to parents, urging them to stay vigilant about their children’s online behavior to reduce the risk of exploitation.
“Parents, you have to know this is so serious, your child has no right to privacy on the internet, none,” she said. “You have to monitor what your kids are doing, whether they’re playing games on the internet, on social media, any other websites that children and teenagers frequent, an online predator can find them.”
“I always say it’s from instant message to instant nightmare,” she added. “They’re predators. They pose as children. They get them sometimes to post explicit pictures of themselves after they talk to them, and then, in some cases, they even try to blackmail the children.”
The DOJ noted that in several instances, concerned parents played a crucial role in helping authorities locate and apprehend offenders. In one case, a child informed the FBI of their abuse by a California man shortly after attending an online safety presentation in the Albany, New York area. That suspect was arrested within eight hours of the disclosure.
Patel concluded the announcement with a strong message to offenders:
“If you harm our children, you will be given no sanctuary. There is no place we will not come to hunt you down. There is no place we will not look for you. And there is no cage we will not put you in, should you do harm to our children,” he declared. “You will be hunted down, and you will be prosecuted.”
