Operation Firewall: 341 Arrests, 40 Children Rescued

The press conference happened today, and the numbers stopped the room. Authorities in Southern California announced that 341 suspects have been arrested and 40 children have been rescued or identified as victims in a massive multi-county child exploitation sweep called Operation Firewall. The operation was led by the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and ran from April 19 through May 3, spanning Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. More than 112 law enforcement agencies coordinated on the effort. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department alone made over 100 of the arrests. Officials said the suspects were involved in the production, possession, and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Many of the rescued children have already been returned to their families, while others are now in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services. Federal officials warned of a disturbing new trend: organized groups forming online with the deliberate goal of luring children into producing abuse material and images of self-harm. This is not a story about statistics. It is forty real children, each one with a name, a face, and a family, who are no longer in the hands of the people who were hurting them. And it is 341 predators who will no longer have access to anyone else’s child. “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6. There are few things Scripture speaks about with more severe language than the harming of children. The men and women who spent weeks building these cases and kicking down these doors are doing the work of justice that heaven takes seriously. What do you think it will take to keep this kind of coordinated rescue work happening across every state in the country? Forty children are home tonight who were not safe yesterday. #justice #protection #usa