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Local agencies assist anti-child porn operationEDMOND, Feb 14, 2013 (The Edmond Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Edmond and Guthrie law enforcement officers helped put several suspected child predators behind bars, an OSBI spokeswoman said. Jessica Brown said members of the Oklahoma Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force were recently in northeast Oklahoma investigating crimes pertaining to the exploitation of children. Edmond Police spokeswoman Jenny Monroe said the agency has three active task force members. Edmond detectives receive additional training, the agency makes important contacts and it gains additional experience from this type of operation, Monroe said of why the department loans the officers to the task force. Brown said child pornography was distributed to task force members from the Stillwater Police Department and the Guthrie Police Department on at least nine occasions from seven separate computers. Brown said the cases were assigned to other members of the task force for additional investigation. Other participating agencies were the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, the Edmond Police Department, the FBI, the Owasso Police Department, the Rogers County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Coweta Police Department and the Tulsa Police Department. Brown said earlier this week arrest warrants were served and individuals arrested during the operation were: --Adolphius J. Webster, 31, of Owasso. He was booked into the Tulsa County jail and is being held on complaints of distribution of child pornography and violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act; --James E. Johnson, 54, of Owasso. He was booked into the Rogers County jail and is being held on complaints of distribution of child pornography and violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act; --Michael K. Gomez, 41, of Coweta. He was arrested for distribution of child pornography and violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act. He was booked into the Wagoner County jail; and --Stephen A. Hacker, 65, of Okmulgee. He was booked into the Wagoner County jail on complaints of distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography and for violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act. Computer-related items were seized after they were forensically previewed at the various scenes, Brown said. The computer equipment will be sent to the OSBI Computer Crimes Unit for further analysis, Brown said. In addition, task force members from the Tulsa Police Department, with assistance from other units within the department, served three search warrants inside the Tulsa city limits, Brown said. In each case, several computer-related items were seized, Brown said. Those cases are still under investigation to determine if criminal charges will be filed or not, Brown said. [email protected] -- 341-2121, ext. 108 ___ (c)2013 The Edmond Sun (Edmond, Okla.) Visit The Edmond Sun (Edmond, Okla.) at www.edmondsun.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |