An online sting operation in California busted 15 people for allegedly seeking sexual contact with minors.
Ex-California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pardue, 51, and a civilian employee with California Correctional Health Care Services, Ricardo Mancillas, 54, were among those arrested after allegedly agreeing to meet up with children as young as 13 to participate in lewd acts with them. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said that the coronavirus pandemic has left children vulnerable to online predators.
“Over the past several months, detectives from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit conducted an ongoing undercover operation targeting online child predators. Due to COVID-19, many children are at an increased risk of harm as their lives move increasingly online. Spending more time online can leave children vulnerable to sexual exploitation and grooming by predators looking to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic,” the department posted on its Instagram account.
In total, 15 people aged 21 to 54 were busted at their homes or other meeting places after agreeing to meet with the officers who posed as teenagers online for the sting between May 20 and July 16. Bakersfield area Highway Patrol Commander Capt. Scot Loetscher said that Pardue was fired after being charged with contacting a minor with the intent to perform lewd acts and arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd acts.
“I want to assure the public that we take any allegation of misconduct by our employees, whether on or off duty, very seriously,” Loetscher said. “I also want to emphasize to the public that the alleged conduct of this employee does not reflect the values, hard work, dedication and professionalism of the CHP and its more than 11,000 employees, who proudly work each day to provide the best in Safety, Service, and Security to the people of California.”
Youngblood said he believes these sting operations help to deter predators from seeking victims online, adding, “There would have been a lot more victims out there if we didn’t do these types of operations. When you get on the internet and you act like a juvenile, [child predators] will come. These people cannot help themselves; they cannot control themselves.”
