Operation Clean Sweep II Indicts More than 25 Child Predators and Checked-in on More than 525 Sex Offenders

TULSA, Okla. - Today, U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson announced that law enforcement has indicted 25 defendants, and several others have been identified and are still being investigated after the launch of Operation Clean Sweep II in April.

Operation Clean Sweep II (operation) aims to hold accountable child predators throughout the Northern District of Oklahoma. This operation is partnered with the Tornado Alley Child Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force (TACETT), created by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). More than 12 federal, state, and tribal law enforcement partners helped prevent, identify, investigate, and ultimately prosecute child exploitation.

"Data collected by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows a 300% increase of online coercion and enticements of minors across the United States," said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. "My office is committed to working with law enforcement to help train, educate online safety, and actively pursue those who try to exploit children within the Northern District of Oklahoma."

"The production and dissemination of child sexual abuse materials is a reprehensible offense that has no place in our society," said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Lester R. Hayes Jr. "HSI, working alongside our partners in the Tornado Alley Child Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force, will persist in our mission to apprehend those who seek to exploit our children via social media platforms."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) analyzed 476 missing children enticed online between 2020 and 2023. Fifty-nine percent of child victims were younger than 15 years old. The offender made their first contact with the child through social media and gaming sites. It was most common for an offender to travel to the child. However, older teens went to the offender. Statics showed they were provided travel tickets, used rideshare apps, and sent funds through a money app by the offender. While many victims were female children, there has also been an increase in online sextortion of teenage boys. Sextortion can happen without ever meeting an offender. NCMEC has more information about sextortion here: NCMEC.org/sextortion.

During this operation, the U.S. Marshal Service and Mayes County Sheriff's Office conducted compliance checks on those required to register as a sex in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provides a comprehensive set of standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. More than 525 individuals were checked, and law enforcement found that over 50 individuals were not compliant with SORNA standards.

The prosecution of the defendants arrested during Operation Clean Sweep II is led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Nassar and Ashley Robert. The law enforcement who participated in the operation are personnel from the HSI Tulsa office, the U.S. Marshal Service, the FBI, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the Tulsa Police Department, Rogers County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Broken Arrow Police Department, Owasso Police Department, Sapulpa Police Department, Bristow Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

If you or someone you know is a victim of child exploitation, confidential help is available. Resources and contact information for child exploitation are available through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorneys' Offices and Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ's PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.