Suspects arrested for child porn and internet crimes during Operation Southern Impact II
A total of 76 people were arrested and 13 children were rescued or identified as victims during a child exploitation sting in eight southeastern states. Operation Southern Impact II was coordinated by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The operation took four months to plan and involved 222 law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies, according to the GBI. During the operation, officials executed 136 search warrants and seized 1,255 digital devices.
Nearly half of the arrests were in Georgia
Authorities arrested 34 people in Georgia. Many of those arrests involved the possession and/or distribution of child pornography. The GBI says investigators targeted those seeking out and distributing the most violent child pornography involving infants and toddlers.
The suspects range in age from 17 to 63. They include a construction worker, truck driver, disc jockey, youth director, and restaurant worker.
Six suspects traveled for the purpose of meeting and having sex with a minor, according to the GBI. One was arrested for sextortion. That occurs when someone obtains sexually explicit photos of a minor and then threatens or blackmails the victim for additional obscene images or videos. The GBI calls it “an alarming trend.”
Some of the people taken into custody had no prior criminal history and were working in jobs that gave them access to children, according to investigators. At least one foster parent with young children was arrested. Of the eight registered sex offenders investigated in Georgia, four were charged with new crimes related to child pornography. The others were charged with various compliance violations.
List of suspects
The following people were charged under the states Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007:
Wesley Bunker, 27, W/M, Rome, GA, retail store employee
Tony Burton, 52, B/M, Lawrenceville, GA, unemployed
Eric A. Burgess, 17, W/M, Suwannee, GA, student
Jason R. Cash, 34, W/M, Monroe, GA, electrician
Anthony L. Crane, 39, W/M, Cartersville, GA, construction worker
Jeffery Declouet, 46, W/M, Suwannee, GA, IT support employee
Mark D. Driver, 36, W/M, Fort Valley, GA, truck stop employee
Kyam Forsyth, 25, W/M, Eatonton, GA, unemployed
Bill E. Garner, 54, W/M, Resaca, GA, unemployed
John Garrett, 62, W/M, Roswell, GA, former manager of commercial bus service
John P. Hart, Jr., 63, W/M, Sandersville, GA, unemployed
Aaron C. Helton, 36, W/M, Adairsville, GA, unknown
Bryan E. Holloway, 45, W/M, Winston, GA, truck driver
Mark Horn, 31, W/M, Dallas, GA, vocational training non-profit employee
Gordon L. Ingebritsen, 53, W/M, Duluth, GA, unemployed
Shawn M. Kemp, 31, W/M, Cedartown, GA, postal employee
Nicholas Knight, 29, W/M, Dublin, GA, unemployed
Jeffery Lance, 26, W/M, Silver, Creek, GA, school board employee/church youth director
Donald Allen McFall, 31, W/M, Columbus, GA, unemployed
Stephen McGatha, 49, W/M, Cedartown, GA, unknown
John Clark Miller, 57, W/M, Winder, GA, glass company technician
Jonathan Okelly, 37, W/M, Douglasville, GA, unknown
Andrew Orr, 34, W/M, Marietta, GA, part-time freighter
Daniel Pacheco, 27, H/M, Tucker, GA, disc jockey
Hershell Kyle Pirkle, W/M, age 29, restaurant worker
Eric Wolfgang Rauth, 35, W/M, Elgin, Illinois, unknown
Benjamin F. Smith, 41, W/M, Byron, GA, civilian employee at AFB
Bryan F. Stisher, 35, W/M, Roswell, GA, online tutor
Karl K. Strenth, Jr., 28, W/M, Leesburg, GA, unknown
Thomas C. Toler, 54, W/M, St. Mary’s, GA, human resources
Darren Alan Vincent, W/M, 47, Trion, GA, manufacturing worker
Authorities arrested three others for non-compliance with terms of previous criminal sentences.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office and Athens-Clarke County Police Department were among the 49 Georgia law enforcement agencies that participated in Operation Southern Impact II.
