Authorities in Oakley announced the arrests of eleven men throughout the East Bay for allegedly using the internet to find children to sexually exploit and abuse them, according to a department press release.
The men’s ages spanned between 27 and 64 years old. One was a Boy Scout troop master, police said, and another was a behavioral therapist for children with special needs.
Of the 11 arrests, two men were from Pittsburg, two were from Concord, two were from Antioch and two were from Hayward. Additional suspects were from Oakley, Oakland and South San Francisco. All the suspects were booked into jail.
The sweep was done from May 24 and May 31 with the help of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which includes the FBI, Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service and several local police departments and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office.
Officials said the suspects had all established inappropriate and sexually-based relationships with what they believed were children — but were in fact typically law enforcement officers posing as underage Internet users. Each of the men was arrested after attempting to meet up with their intended target at a designated meeting spot. Some of the men brought candy or contraceptive items with them, police said.
“This operation ranks at the top of what I consider to be the most important type of proactive, task-oriented missions,” said Oakley police Chief Paul Beard. “In a very literal sense, the innocence of children was saved by the efforts that went into this operation. Knowing some of the back stories that went into these arrests, I have a very visceral feeling of disgust about the men who were arrested.”Court papers show that one of the men arrested told police that he had gone to meet what he believed was an underage person — not with sexual intent, but to warn them about meeting strangers from the Internet. The court papers also include sexually explicit chats from that suspect to the police officer who posed as a child.
Anyone with information related to these arrests or other cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation is asked to call Oakley police at 925-625-8855. For those who might need resources on this topic, the Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition has been working for over 30 years to coordinate resources and advocate for public policy.
