SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday that authorities across the state have recently arrested 10 people in a sting operation who were believed to have targeted children via text and social media to meet for sexual activity.
According to the press release, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force spent two weeks in early spring conducting a statewide undercover operation that sought to expose adults who are perpetuating child sexual abuse material online.
Operation Cyber Spear ended in 10 arrests and three search warrants searched. The identities of the offenders are not immediately available. Officials say there are three other pending investigations, which will likely result in more arrests.
The operation was a joint investigation that involved more than 20 law enforcement agencies, including:
- 70 officers from the Utah Attorney General’s Office (ICAC, SIU, and SECURE)
- Homeland Security Investigation
- United States Secret Service
- Utah Department of Corrections Probation and Parole – Region 3
- Tremonton City PD
- Perry City PD
- Weber County SO
- Ogden City PD
- Roy City PD
- Clearfield City PD
- Draper City PD
- Herriman City PD
- Sandy City PD
- South Salt Lake City PD
- Taylorsville City PD
- West Jordan City PD
- Bluffdale City PD
- Lehi City PD
- Salem City PD
- Orem City PD
- Utah County Sheriff’s Office
- Park City PD
- Intermountain West’s Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory
- Iron County Sheriff’s Office
- Enoch City PD
- St. George City PD
“The Utah Attorney General’s Office would like to convey appreciation to all who participated and to Ogden City, Lehi City, and St. George City police departments for hosting the operation,” the press release read.
