24 INDICTED IN CONNECTION WITH 'OPERATION INTERCEPTION'
December 23, 2019
Defendants Accused of Soliciting Minors for Sex
Decatur, Ga.- A DeKalb County Grand Jury has indicted 24 people for allegedly soliciting minors for sex in connection with a multi-jurisdictional operation titled, “Operation Interception.” Each of the defendants, ranging in age from 20 to 55 at the time of the crime, is charged with at least one count of Utilizing an Electronic Device to Seduce, Solicit, or Entice a Child, in separate indictments returned by Grand Jurors last Thursday. Other charges, including Human Trafficking, Criminal Attempt to Commit Aggravated Child Molestation, and Obscene Internet Contact with a Child, vary per defendant.
The charges against the Defendants stem from a five-day undercover operation based in Brookhaven beginning January 30, 2019, spanning the course of Super Bowl weekend, held in Atlanta.
According to the investigation, the men contacted decoys online, believing they were 14-year-old children, and either engaged in sexually explicit conversations with them and/or distributed obscene photographs to them. Many traveled to Brookhaven with the intent of meeting a child for sex. They were instead arrested by undercover agents after arriving at the designated meeting location.
The operation was coordinated by the GBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force in partnership with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Brookhaven Police Department.
Following indictment, the Defendants will be scheduled for arraignment and later, trial. The cases are being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Sexual Exploitation and Crimes Against Children (SECAC) Unit, which conducted an extensive pre-indictment investigation.
The list of the Defendants and the charges on which they were indicted are outlined as follows:
Defendant |
Charges |
Aguilar-Zaragoza, Miguel, 25 |
|
Bowen, Nicholas Alexander, 30 |
|
Brady, Tony, 41 |
|
Cheung, Thomas Ho-Yan, 33 |
|
Collins, Jeshua Elijah, 23 |
|
Fadeyi, Tunde James, 56 |
|
Gonzalez-Amaya, Walter Antonio, 23 |
|
Gordon, Larry Allen, 32 |
|
Gourdine, Zachary Tye, 29 |
|
Graham, Dylan Michael, 28 |
|
Harrish, Dennis Joseph, 35 |
|
Hyder, Richard Jason, 42 |
|
Kennedy, Mitchell Alle, 25 |
|
Lalani, Raheem, 27 |
|
Mendoza-Escalante, Marco, 21 |
|
Menjivar-Fernandez, Darwin J, 23 |
|
Ramirez-Salgado, Oscar, 40 |
|
Sanchez, Juan Manuel, 26 |
|
Timoteus, Junior Cornelius, 26 |
|
Valencia-Patino, Juan, 23 |
|
Walters, Tarno, 23 |
|
Williams, Kyle Alexander, 32 |
|
Wilson, Robert Tyler, 32 |
|
Whynot, Dylan Golding, 33 |
|