Seven arrested in Grant Co. for sex abuse
STAFF REPORT | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 2 months AGO
Since the first Operation Net Nanny - a task force established to protect children from online predators - in August 2015, the WSP said the work of the task force has resulted in 301 arrests and rescued more than 31 children across the state.
COURTESY PHOTO/WSP
GRANT COUNTY — The Washington State Patrol announced Thursday the arrest of seven men in Grant County in a major operation involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, according to a WSP press release.
The seven men were arrested over the course of several days by the WSP’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force, the WSP said, in “Operation Net Nanny” designed to target persons involved in child abuse and exploitation on the Internet.
According to the WSP press release, the seven men are Abraham Calderon, 19, of Moses Lake; Omar Ivan Macinas-Garza, 39, of Grandview; Fulgencio Ramos, 21, of Quincy; Robert Jeffrey Bancroft, 20, of Marysville; Joshua Kenneth Leonard, 44, of Omak; Jerardo Ramon Reyes, 29, and Mason Piling, 27, both of Moses Lake.
“While the Internet is a powerful tool for us all, criminals using it to target our communities’ necessitates a need for this type of proactive investigation by our law enforcement troopers and partners in order to combat these horrible crimes,”
The cases have been handed over to Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin McRae to determine whether or not charges should be filed, the WSP press release said.
“The Grant County Prosecutor’s Office was proud to partner with various state, federal and local Grant County law enforcement agencies in the first post-Covid Net Nanny operation in the state,” McRae said in the press release. “These law enforcement agencies are sending a clear message that the exploitation and abuse of children will not be tolerated.”
Also involved in the operation were the Moses Lake Police Department, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, the Othello Police Department, the Quincy Police Department, police officers from Kennewick and Spokane, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The WSP is asking anyone with any information on the above named suspects or any information leading to the identification of victims in these cases to contact the patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force at [email protected].
Since the first Operation Net Nanny in August 2015, the WSP said the work of the task force has resulted in 301 arrests and rescued more than 31 children across the state.
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