The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement participated in a multi-agency operation to “target sexual predators who attempted to lure underage children with the intent of engaging in sexual activity.”
After a “months-long proactive operation to combat child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking” in Arizona’s Pinal County, five men were arrested during the multi-day sting operation. The undercover operation, named “Operation Home Alone 2,” involved local, state, and federal agencies, including ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Pinal Criminal Targeting Unit, Casa Grande Police Department, Maricopa Police Department, and the Pinal County Attorney’s Office.
“HSI, working alongside our law enforcement partners, is deeply committed to pursuing alleged predators lurking within our communities seeking to harm and exploit our most vulnerable population,” Scott Brown, special agent in charge of HSI Phoenix, said. “This multi-agency effort epitomizes our ongoing mission in Arizona and is a testament to the men and woman who working these heinous cases law enforcement developed probable cause to charge five suspects. All suspects were booked into the Pinal County Jail.”
Five people were arrested, including a former sheriff’s detective. Christopher Butts, 44, a former Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detective from Phoenix, was arrested on charges of aggravated luring of a minor for sexual exploitation and furnishing harmful items to a minor on Sept. 2, according to the ICE press release. Butts had been on bond for an arrest in February on the same charges, officials said. – READ MORE
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