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Uploaded: Friday, July 20, 2012, 3:56 PM
Updated: Monday, July 23, 2012, 11:04 AM
15 arrested in county child-porn sweep
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Detectives from 30 law enforcement agencies, including Mountain View, have arrested 15 people in a crackdown targeting child pornography on Thursday, July 19.
The Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce spent the day executing about 20 search warrants in what it calls the largest child porn sweep ever in Northern California, termed "Operation Chickenhawk," San Jose police said.
Those who were arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography include 12 men arrested in San Jose, two men arrested in Santa Clara and one man arrested in Sunnyvale. Police noted that at least three of the men work in tech-related fields and one in real estate.
Yun Chen, 36, Tom Truong, 27, Valentine Hyjek, 46, Lorenzo Caliva, 22, Ismael Aragon, 53, Brandon Hellewell, 18, Davide Signorelli, 30, Luis Benavides, 29, Robert Hernandez, 32 Moises Cervantes, 36, Juan Carlos Rivera, 40, and Marlon Ivan Garcia Chavez, 32, were all arrested in San Jose, according to police.
Tony Silva, 64, and Mark Flores, 31, were arrested in Santa Clara. Robert Selvidge, 43, was arrested in Sunnyvale.
Agencies that participated in the sweep included police from San Jose, Santa Clara, Los Gatos, Mountain View and Santa Cruz, as well as the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Department of Homeland Security. All are part of the task force.
"It's a labor-intensive operation," San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Jason Dwyer said, adding that at a minimum, those who had been arrested so far are suspected of possessing child pornography, a felony offense.
Others may be suspected of distribution or manufacturing, Dwyer said.
Dwyer said that the task force anticipated finding about 20 suspects in Thursday's search.
About 15 of the 20 search warrants being executed today were for properties in San Jose. The rest were in other Santa Clara County locations, Dwyer said.
The San Jose Police department, the lead agency on the task force, conducted 20 investigations that led to today's sweep, police said.
Since January, the taskforce has arrested over 40 men for possessing child pornography, police said.— Bay City News Service Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Anon, a resident of the Cuernavaca neighborhood, on Jul 21, 2012 at 11:06 am Why were Mountain View police involved? Were any of the arrested men from here? I would like to know if any of these depraved humans were residents of this city.
Thanks to all law enforcement for their work on this investigation. I fully support any and all efforts to target, stop and prevent crimes against children.
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Posted by Mr. Nice, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Jul 23, 2012 at 7:44 am Public Castration is the Answer!!!!
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Posted by U. Nick, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Jul 23, 2012 at 11:38 am Note to self: Stay clear of anyone who wants to attend a public castration.
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Posted by MV Resident, a resident of the Jackson Park neighborhood, on Jul 24, 2012 at 10:59 am @Anon:
The Mountain View Police Department is one of the participating agencies of the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce.
The point is that detectives at the Mountain View Police Department investigate. The leads don't always result in suspects located in a particular city. It's not like these people have neon signs in front of their houses announcing that a child porn user is living inside.
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