SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force announced the arrests of 14 people suspected of child pornography crimes on Thursday.
The month-long special operation by the ICAC was called 'Operation Frostbite.'
A national child protection organization called Operation Kids provided private financing so to the ICAC. to help target suspects who use the internet to victimize children.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says budget restraints have created a backlog for the task force, and the Operation Kids contribution helped move the investigations forward.
According to a press release by the attorney general, six home search warrants and ten computer search warrants were served during January.
ICAC Agents interviewed another 25 persons suspected of child sexual exploitation. Thirty-five computers/external hard-drives, three cell phones and more than 100 CDs containing tens of thousands of illegal child pornography images and movies were seized.
According to Shurtleff, several of the people who were arrested are accused of actively manufacturing child pornography, which resulted in the rescue of children sexually victimized on video and still images.
ICAC agents say one out of six offenders arrested for child pornography have already sexually victimized children.
Operation Frostbite involved suspects and search warrants being served in Salt Lake, Tooele, Davis and Utah Counties. The law enforcement strategic blitz included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Utah Department of Public Safety, Utah Department of Corrections, Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, Salt Lake City Police Department, Layton City Police Department, West Valley City Police Department and South Jordan Police Department.
The names of the arrested suspects from Operation Frostbite are:
Andre Del Toro, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
William Mattucci, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Antonio Cardenas, Federal Warrant
Kevin Winsness, Dealing Harmful Material to a Minor
Steven Mathena, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Timothy Ainsworth, Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
(Name withheld), 5 Counts Sexual Exploitation
Shawn Johnson, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Adrian Marion, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Eduardo Sosa, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Howard Casey Calhoun, 4 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Mitchell Meronk, 10 Counts Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Ty Marsh, 10 Counts Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Jeff Smith, Federal Warrant
Additional arrests are pending, according to the press release.
Information about ICAC and Internet safety tips can be found at
http://www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov/internet_safety.html.
----Information from: Utah Attorney General
