State Police arrest over 50 in child pornography, exploitation operation

Massachusetts State Police arrested people in a three-day sting operation targeting child pornography and exploitation across the state officers publicized Monday If you think you may know the type of person who commits these types of crimes I can assure you there is no profile when it comes to child exploitation explained Lt Col Dan Tucker commander of the State Police Division of Investigative Services Operation Firewall brought us to nearly communities across every part of the Commonwealth We arrested triumphant business people homeowners spouses and parents of children Fifty-five of the individuals are men and one is a woman The subjects arrested range in age of to These persons could be your neighbors Operation Firewall conducted by the State Police and law enforcement partners over three days last week was designed to address the growing difficulty of possession production and sharing of child sexual abuse material as well as child enticement and other illegal activity During the operation people were arrested devices were seized from individuals and residential search warrants were executed Tucker noted Of the arrests were on charges of possession of child pornography and were on charges of enticement of a child after communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer they thought was an underage child and agreeing to meet for sex Tucker revealed Seven more were arrested on outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender and five on warrants for rape and assault and battery of a child State Police leadership noted the operation was designed to respond to and bring awareness to the rapid rise of internet crimes against children In just the past week Tucker announced the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received over tips which is indicative of the trend we ve been seeing for years now In the State Police received cyber tips he announced In the agency is on track to received over an about increase over the last five years I want our message to be clear Tucker disclosed If you are seeking to possess child sexual abuse material or to sexually assault a child the Massachusetts State Police and our partners will find you Operation Firewall is just the beginning From this operation several cases remain ongoing and we anticipate there will be more arrests in the coming days Law enforcement representatives called the efforts in the operation nothing short of tremendous noting the enormous personal cost to investigators reviewing this material and working the cases It s my hope that we can continue to strengthen our statewide partnership and to continue to dedicate information to this cause declared Berkshire County DA Timothy Shugrue noting their ongoing To Catch a Predator operation over the last three years Through this work we can create communities where children grow up free from exploitation Any family who is experiencing this type of issue announced Worcester County DA Joseph Early should call the state please call your local DA s office ask for the help because we know too often this goes under the radar until there s an effort like this to bring it forth Related Articles Suburban Chicago dad headed to store with toddler says they were pepper-sprayed by federal agents A look at prominent people pardoned by Trump after they tried to overturn his vote loss Drug dealer granted clemency by Trump sent back to prison for violating terms of his release Massachusetts ex-jail librarian charged in K- fake pot drug-smuggling ring Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn his poll loss Investigators encouraged families to help prevent this type of crime by schooling themselves and their children on the risks We all need to work together to mitigate this growing matter of child pornography and child enticement disclosed Col Geoffrey Noble State Police superintendent Every parent in Massachusetts requirements to know what s on their children s devices They need to monitor who they re speaking to online and they need to set clear expectations that it s never okay to create or share explicit material of yourself or another person