Huge Online Sting Snares 21
Twenty-one Queens individuals were cuffed in a massive citywide child pornography bust announced by federal, state and city law enforcement officials last Wednesday, May 21.
Dubbed “Operation Caireen,” the sting conducted by federal and state law enforcement agencies resulted in 71 total arrests across the New York City area between Apr. 4 and May 15. The suspects allegedly uploaded or downloaded child porn through peer-to-peer file sharing networks which investigators infiltrated.
Spearheaded by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in New York, the effort resulted in the identification of nearly 150 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of individuals involved in the illicit trade.
Agents executed 87 courtauthorized searches and seized nearly 600 various computing devices found to contain more than 175 terabytes combined of child porn.
In some instances, prosecutors said, defendants had entire libraries containing thousands of explicit photos and videos involving minors.
Among those busted locally was Yong-Fa Wu, a police officer from Ozone Park taken into custody in April for allegedly downloading 60 child pornography files off a peer-topeer network. He was released on $50,000 bail, but is suspended without pay from the NYPD.
Published reports identified Ridgewood’s Richard Acevedo, 47, as another of the 21 Queens residents cuffed during Operation Caileen. Reportedly, Acevedo-a registered sex offender residing on Fresh Pond Road-served a prison sentence after being convicted of trying to rape a 10-year-old girl.
Other local defendants were identified by the Queens District Attorney’s office as follows:
– Kenneth Gardner, 59, a nurse at the Westchester County Medical Center, arrested on Apr. 8 and released on $25,000 bail;
– Carlos Quezada-Lazo, 35, unemployed, arrested on Apr. 17 and remains in custody on $75,000 bail;
– Jaime Lozano, 57, an architect arrested on Apr. 18 and remains held on $100,000 bail;
– Adam Strack, 33, an IT analyst at North Shore University Hospital, arrested on Apr. 22 and released on $15,000 bail;
– Rodd Cooper, 34, unemployed, arrested on Apr. 23 and released on $25,000 bail;
– Jaimes Ricardo, 31, unemployed, arrested on Apr. 24 and held on $20,000 bail;
– Luis Bautista, 59, unemployed, arrested on Apr. 25 and released on $7,500 bail;
– Thomas Perkins, 36, a pilot for Republic Airways, arrested on Apr. 18 and held on $50,000 bail;
– Aaron Young, 33, an FDNY paramedic, arrested on Apr. 28 and released on $10,000 bail;
– Christian Chapman, 26, unemployed, arrested on Apr. 30 and released on $15,000 bail;
– Christopher DeNicola, 31, unemployed, arrested on May 5 and held on $75,000 bond/$50,000 cash bail;
– Herminio Clemente-Espana, 40, a restaurant worker, arrested on May 6 and held on $50,000 bond/$25,000 cash bail; and
– Deleg Alvarracin, 24, a cook, arrested on May 15 and released on $10,000 bail.
Most of the Queens defendants were charged with multiple felony counts of promoting and possessing sexual performances by a child. They each face up to four and seven years behind bars for each count on which they are convicted.
“The sheer volume of confirmed and suspected instances of individuals engaging in the sexual exploitation of children identified through Operation Caireen is shocking and the professional backgrounds of many of the defendants is troubling,” said HSI New York Special Agent-in-Charge James T. Hayes Jr. He pointed out many of them held “positions of public trusts,” including two police officers, two registered nurses, a former scoutmaster and a little league baseball coach.
Among those who joined Hayes in announcing the indictment last Wednesday were U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara; Police Commissioner Bill Bratton; Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown; and Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson.
“It must be remembered that the images involved in these cases are of real children being sexually abused and that each time an image is viewed, traded, printed or downloaded, the child in that image is being victimized again,” Brown said.
“Each of these defendants-five of whom presently have cases pending in Kings County-is responsible for re-victimizing the children who appear in these despicable videos each time they view or share the files,” Thompson added. “These are real children whose abuse and victimization has been videotaped for the entertainment of an unfortunately large population of twisted individuals.”
Hayes thanked the NYPD, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the New York State Police, among other law enforcement entities, for their assistance in the investigation.
