FRESNO COUNTY – The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and partnering law enforcement agencies arrested 21 men and booked them into the Fresno County Jail on charges related to arranging to meet with a child with the intent to engage in sexual conduct.Â
According to a Dec. 22 press release from FSO, the arrested men range in age from 21 to 66 and were arrested as a part of an undercover effort named “Operation Naughty or Nice.” The operation involved 17 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and was conducted from Dec. 18-21. Some of the arrested suspects have since posted bond, been assigned a court date and been released from custody.
“The basis for launching this operation is that children’s use of electronic devices and social media is higher than ever,” the press release said. “A potential danger of being online more often is having an encounter with a sexual predator who is seeking out relationships with children.”Â
The press release said that to combat this problem, detectives “constructed an operation to identify, contact and arrest anyone who may be trying to target a child for sex.”Â
To conduct the operation, detectives posed as preteen and early teenagers to use technology against the suspected predators. The suspects used sexually explicit language and sent graphic photos to the detectives who were pretending to be children.Â
“All of the suspects were first to express their sexual desires and they initiated a time to meet with the detective posing as a child,” the press release said. “Once they arrived to the locations, officers arrested them.”Â
No actual children were used or placed in danger during the operation, according to the press release.Â
Agencies involved in Operation Naughty or Nice included FSO, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, the Fresno and Madera County District Attorney’s Offices, the Fresno, Clovis, Sanger, Kerman, Kingsburg and Reedley police departments, California Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the California Department of Justice, the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium, the Fresno County Probation Adult Compliance Team and the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.Â
According to the press release, the Central California ICAC Task Force receives thousands of online reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children each year. Reports are related to the distribution and possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material, and the press release said suspects who view this material can easily progress into committing hands-on crimes against children.Â
The ICAC task force is made up of 68 federal, state and local agencies throughout nine counties in the Central Valley.Â
FSO said law enforcement officials want to remind the public to be vigilant when it comes to visiting websites and social media outlets, and parents should monitor their children’s internet usage and be aware of the apps they are using.Â
“Parents should keep the dialogue open with their children in order to build trust,” the press release said. “Online predators often pretend to be someone else in order to lure their victims in and take advantage of them.”Â
Children should be taught to be wary of the person on the other end of the chat line, as people may not be who they say they are. Common apps used by suspects have included Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Discord, Kik, MeetMe and Scout.Â
Any suspicious behavior should be reported to law enforcement or by filing an online tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.Â
According to FSO, Operation Naughty or Nice is an ongoing investigation and more arrests could be made. Further, suspects in the case could have victimized other people who have never reported it, the press release said. Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to report it to FSO at 559-600-3111 or anonymously through Valley Crime Stoppers at 559-498-7867 or at valleycrimestoppers.org.
