WASHINGTON—The FBI has nabbed hundreds of child abusers in a coordinated enforcement to protect children in Texas, The Daily Wire has learned.
Agents held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to announce the results of Operation Soteria Shield, a coordinated Crimes Against Children enforcement operation across Texas, the FBI shared with The Daily Wire, including more than 70 local, state, and federal partners.
Over 100 children were rescued during the enforcement operation, 244 offenders were arrested by authorities, and 368 total charges were filed, both federal and state. The operation — which was jointly managed by the FBI Dallas Division, Dallas Police Department, Plano Police Department, Wylie Police Department, and Garland Police Department — also involved 165 search warrants and the seizure of 1,130 digital devices, an FBI spokesman shared.
“FBI leadership has made it crystal clear: If you harm children in America, there will be no place for you to hide,” FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told The Daily Wire. “The FBI will spare no effort to pursue you, find you, and bring you to justice.”
“We are proud of our Dallas teams and local partnerships in the region for once again delivering a successful operation and making American neighborhoods safer,” Williamson added.
This marks the tenth year that Operation Soteria Shield has been conducted in April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
According to Fox4Dallas, this year’s operation included 124 cyber tip cases, 73 chat-based undercover operations, 30 responses to calls for service that were direct leads to child rescues, and 23 high-risk victim rescues.
“Operation Soteria Shield brought together over 70 agencies from across the state of Texas, including police departments, federal agencies, state and federal prosecutors, children’s advocacy centers, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock explained. “We had a common goal, which was to rescue children from abuse and exploitation.”
“This was not an easy operation, but a necessary one,” he added. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to protect the children in our communities and we will hold child predators accountable for their crimes.”
The FBI also said Tuesday in a release that in addition to their law enforcement actions, investigators “seized extensive volumes of digital evidence, including terabytes of illicit data stored on electronic devices that were used in the commission of these crimes.” Those devices are reportedly undergoing forensic analysis and “may lead to further arrests and the identification of additional victims.”