30 Pedophiles Arrested in Virginia

[William Parcher]

Police arrest 30 pedophiles in just one Virginia county as part of a 'Covid crackdown' operation set up to help protect children who are vulnerable to online abuse while taking classes on the internet

Police have arrested thirty alleged pedophiles in just one Virginia county over the course of this month as part of 'Operation COVID Crackdown'.

The undercover investigation, designed to protect youngsters using the internet to take classes has seen a total of 68 felony charges put on 30 potential predators.

Officers at Fairfax County Police found the pedophiles starting 'explicit conversations' with the decoy children online before trying to 'initiate sex' with them.

The alleged pedophiles, all male and aged 20 to 74, were arrested at the locations they had agreed to meet the 'underage children', who were actually police officers posing as children.

All thirty arrested now face more than one count of solicitation of a minor and attempted indecent liberties or soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Major Ed O’Carroll, Bureau Commander of Major Crimes for the department said in a statement: 'Our detectives have remained vigilant and they recognized the increased threat posed by online predators in recent weeks.'...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...just-one-Virginia-county-Covid-crackdown.html

 

[Elagabalus]

...The men arrested were either from Virginia county or had travelled from Maryland, West Virginia or Washington D.C.

So not from just one county then?

The alleged phedophiles, all male and aged 20 to 74, were arrested at the locations they had agreed to meet the 'underage children', who were actually police officers posing as chidren.

chidren?

 

[bruto]

So not from just one county then?




chidren?

Wise youngsters know to stay the l at home.

 

[Matthew Best]

Frightening photo - those people all look like criminals!

 

[casebro]

Pictures if the cops please?And was any cop going to bring his goat?

 

[William Parcher]

Frightening photo - those people all look like criminals!

Those faces were on the Internet stalking and grooming and seeking to prey on children. This sweep could have prevented rapes and murders if they had connected with real children.

 

[Matthew Best]

Those faces were on the Internet stalking and grooming and seeking to prey on children. This sweep could have prevented rapes and murders if they had connected with real children.

Yeah! And they look like criminals!

 

[smartcooky]

I would like to see more sting operations like this. They are really cheap to do. All you need for the hook is a well-firewalled computer an internet connection with a VPN and a couple of computer-savvy cops.

Have so many of stings up and running that these scumbags will not be able to be sure if they are being stung or not.

 

[Segnosaur]

Police arrest 30 pedophiles in just one Virginia county as part of a 'Covid crackdown' operation set up to help protect children who are vulnerable to online abuse while taking classes on the internet

I always wonder about how useful sting operations like that are.

I am not suggesting the individuals who were arrested would not have engaged in child abuse if they had the chance. But is really a common occurrence for adults to interact with children in that way? I figure >99% of the time that a pedophile thinks he's talking to a young child, they are probably communicating with some other man (or the police).

 

[Elagabalus]

The 74 yr. old doesn't seem to know how to make a selfie without formatting issues.

 

[Segnosaur]

I would like to see more sting operations like this. They are really cheap to do. All you need for the hook is a well-firewalled computer an internet connection with a VPN and a couple of computer-savvy cops.

Are they really "cheap to do"?

I figure anyone they capture would probably need at least a few days of interactions in order to convince them/arrange a meeting. Then there would all the wasted time interacting with people who don't try to meet. So they could waste days/weeks of manpower, all in order to arrest a person who probably wouldn't actually have the chance to meet someone anyways.

(Note that I am not defending the people that were arrested... they certainly had the intent to cause harm.)

 

[smartcooky]

Are they really "cheap to do"?

I figure anyone they capture would probably need at least a few days of interactions in order to convince them/arrange a meeting. Then there would all the wasted time interacting with people who don't try to meet. So they could waste days/weeks of manpower, all in order to arrest a person who probably wouldn't actually have the chance to meet someone anyways.

(Note that I am not defending the people that were arrested... they certainly had the intent to cause harm.)

These sting operations don't have just one suspect on the hook at a time.

 

[Segnosaur]

These sting operations don't have just one suspect on the hook at a time.

You are right... they will have multiple suspects on the hook. But they will also have multiple officers too.

I have no idea how long it would take to convince one of these people to meet. But I doubt it will be on first contact. and as I said there will be plenty of interactions that go nowhere.

 

[Bob001]

It's interesting that the local paper -- the Washington Post -- considers this worthy of no more than a police short. Why would a UK paper give it so much space and attention? Surely this happens -- both the crimes and the arrests -- there, too?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...d131a0-83fd-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html

 

[P.J. Denyer]

It's interesting that the local paper -- the Washington Post -- considers this worthy of no more than a police short. Why would a UK paper give it so much space and attention? Surely this happens -- both the crimes and the arrests -- there, too?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...d131a0-83fd-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html

It kind of fits the Daily Mail style, they definitely roll on striking fear of everything outside the front door into the hearts of their readers. Fear of peodophiles is high on the list although they do also do a strong line in "look which (teenage actress/teenage singer/teenage daughter of famous person) is all grown up" web articles. Yes, they can be as creepy as that sounds.

 

[dann]

I have no idea how long it would take to convince one of these people to meet.

Do you actually think that the pedophiles are the ones who need some kind of coaxing or convincing when they finally persuade an (alleged) child to meet them somewhere?
I think you've got a very wrong impression of what this is all about.

 

[Ziggurat]

I would like to see more sting operations like this. They are really cheap to do. All you need for the hook is a well-firewalled computer an internet connection with a VPN and a couple of computer-savvy cops.

Have so many of stings up and running that these scumbags will not be able to be sure if they are being stung or not.

SURVEY: MAJORITY OF WEB USERS ARE FBI AGENTS POSING AS TEENAGE GIRLS

 

[Planigale]

Police arrest 30 pedophiles in just one Virginia county as part of a 'Covid crackdown' operation set up to help protect children who are vulnerable to online abuse while taking classes on the internet


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...just-one-Virginia-county-Covid-crackdown.html

I assume these are photos of the accused. I feel uncomfortable that people who have not been convicted of a crime have their photos displayed labelling them as pedophiles. As we know the internet never forgets and pedophilia is never forgiven. Even if found innocent (and are genuinely innocent e.g. identity theft) they will forever be guilty to the public and in significant danger.

 

[plague311]

I would like to see more sting operations like this. They are really cheap to do. All you need for the hook is a well-firewalled computer an internet connection with a VPN and a couple of computer-savvy cops.

I'm confused, why would they need a firewall or a VPN? They're chatting through some form of service I'd assume (Facebook, Craigslist, etc). I can't imagine why network security would play a role at all.

To the rest of it, I'm glad they caught them. Good work by the police to make the streets, internet, and lives of children more safe.

So not from just one county then?

I believe that's referring to where the individuals were arrested, not where they're from.

 

[plague311]

I assume these are photos of the accused. I feel uncomfortable that people who have not been convicted of a crime have their photos displayed labelling them as pedophiles. As we know the internet never forgets and pedophilia is never forgiven. Even if found innocent (and are genuinely innocent e.g. identity theft) they will forever be guilty to the public and in significant danger.

If they were innocent, genuinely innocent (e.g. identity theft) then they wouldn't have shown up in person to meet with the children. That's generally how the police get them by having them show up in person and that provides them with obvious intent.

I agree, I'm against releasing photos before convictions are made, but these stings generally very little wiggle room.