Authorities in Fort Bend County have arrested nine men in connection with an online child pornography sting.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Bob Haenel said Wednesday that officers used social media websites to lure the would-be offenders to a location where they were later arrested.
No children were harmed in the operation, Haenel said. The sheriff’s office partnered with the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Other agencies involved include the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, Sugar Land and Rosenberg police, Missouri City and the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office.
http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html
Officials said the operation had a number of objectives.
Authorities wanted to identify and arrest people engaging in the solicitation or online sexual exploitation of children through social media, and also to seek out people involved in the possession and promotion of child pornography in the Fort Bend County area. Agents used file-sharing services to find people who were sharing and trading child pornography online.
Task force agents made three arrests at one location. Abdallah Darawsha, 26, ran from officials carrying $4,000 in cash when he discovered what was happening. Darawsha was captured after a car chase.
The four men facing charges of attempted sexual assault of a child and online solicitation of a minor were Joshua Nelson, 28, of Rosenberg; Dustin Sabatini, 26, of Sugar Land; James Paul Goates, 46, of Rosenberg; and Darawsha, of Houston.
Five men face felony charges of possession or promotion of child pornography: Peter Huang, 49, Stevan Solis, 49, and Adalberto Torres, 36, all of Houston; and Guadalupe Quezeda, 54, and Timothy Rodriguez, 24, both of Richmond.
Officials said Solis, Goates, Torres, Quezeda, Darawsha and Huang have all posted bail and are no longer in custody. Nelson, Rodriguez and Sabatini are still in the Fort Bend County Jail.
In a similar case in October, Christopher Nichols, 41, was arrested after the mother of a teenage girl he was contacting through social media and allegedly had assaulted over the summer came forward to deputies. Officials assumed the victim’s identity and arrested Nichols.
Nichols later posted $240,000 bond.
“Parents really need to start getting involving in what their children are doing on social media,” said Haenel. No children were victimized during this sting.
