A federal crackdown on suspected child sex abuse offenders leads to 12 arrests in Michigan, including five in Metro Detroit.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday 205 suspects were arrested as part of Operation Restore Justice.
“We are called to protect the most vulnerable members of our community, our children,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. in a statement. “Our office will bring the full force of the law against those who exploit innocent children. We are firmly committed to working alongside our federal, state, and local partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute anyone who seeks to hurt our children.”
The U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit said these five suspects were arrested as part of the effort:
Adarius Carr, 36, of Belleville. Carr is charged in a criminal complaint with distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. The complaint alleges that Carr communicated with a convicted sex offender over an Internet-messaging service. The two discussed their sexual interest in children and exchanged images and videos of child pornography.
Aroul Kaliamurthy, 53, of Westland, Michigan. Kaliamurthy was charged in a criminal complaint with transportation, possession, and access with intent to view child pornography. It is alleged that Kaliamurthy traveled to North Carolina where he took hidden camera videos of a naked prepubescent child. Kaliamurthy is alleged to have possessed these electronic devices as well as images of child pornography on his cell phone and personal computers and brought them back to the Eastern District of Michigan.
Scott Rocky, 57, of Centerline. Rocky was charged in a criminal complaint with receipt, distribution, and possession of child pornography. The complaint alleges that Rocky shared approximately 4141 files believed to be child pornography with other internet users over peer-to-peer software.
Amor Pedro Martinez, 26, of Ecorse. Martinez was charged in a criminal complaint with receipt, distribution, and possession of child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, Martinez is alleged to have engaged in sexually explicit conversations on a messaging application with other individuals and received child pornography on this application from another user.
Whitney Williams, 38. Williams was charged in a criminal complaint with sex trafficking of a minor. According to the criminal complaint, Williams is alleged to have advertised, rented hotel rooms and transported a minor victim to engage in commercial sex acts.
In the Western District of Michigan, seven people were arrested and charged with federal crimes: Christian Vanderveen, of Comstock Park; Paul Masko, of Grand Haven; Terry Hopkins, of Muskegon Heights; Martell Scott-Ware, of Grand Rapids; Shauntelle Blackmon, of Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Joesph Brandon, of Knoxville, Tennessee; and George Edward Lebaron, of Egelston Township.
115 children were rescued in the United States.
Investigators say parental vigilance and community outreach efforts played a critical role in bringing these offenders to justice.