Kristi Nix
Pearland Police Department Lt. Pat Savage (speaking at left) and Lt. Cecil Arnold answer questions from reporters.
The Pearland Police Department recently conducted an online sting, designated as operation “Back to School,” in an effort to identify and arrest suspects engaged in the online sexual exploitation of juveniles. The operation resulted in the arrest of 16 adult male suspects and was conducted in conjunction with the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (HMICAC).
“We prevented the assault, or worse, of at least 16 children by being proactive instead of reactive. If you’re looking to victimize a child sexually in Pearland, we will identify you. We will find you. You will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If you’re thinking about assaulting a child in Pearland, find a different hobby,” Det. Cecil Arnold said.
In this type of crime, suspects use various internet sites to make contact with juvenile victims and then attempt to lure them to meet for the purpose of sexual activity. During “Back to School,” trained investigators posed as minors while online and identified suspects who sought to meet children for sexual purposes.
When the suspects arrived for the meeting with the minor child, they were met instead by officers of the Pearland Police Department, who arrested them.
In the days leading up to the sting, detectives visited chat rooms posing as minors in an effort to identify online predators looking for child victims.
“We had an apartment that was provided to us as a takedown location. Once we made contact with people who were using the Internet to sexually-exploit minors and they were asking to meet the children, they came to the location and instead of meeting with a child, they met with a police officer and were taken into custody,” Arnold said.
When they realized police were waiting to meet them and not a child, some suspects grew angry, some cried and some tried to explain away why they were there with claims it was just a fantasy or that they were just curious about what might happen.
“However, the chat records we had showed these individuals had a more sinister motive,” Det. Arnold said.
Some suspects brought alcohol or marijuana to share with their potential victims, police officials said. Other suspects brought condoms. One suspect confessed to having a large amount of child pornography stored on his home computer and now faces additional charges.
“I would say the mere fact that the suspects showed up for sex acts with a child means they are a big threat to our community,” Det. Arnold said.
When asked how parents could protect their children from online predators, Detective Arnold said the best defense is to carefully monitor’s a child’s online activities.
Those arrested were men between the ages of 20 – 58. Police said another suspect, Jeffrey Brasfield, is deceased. The medical examiner is investigating.
Suspect Jake Leura from Webster received additional charges of possession of child pornography (Harris County).
“This was a personnel-intensive event consisting of multiple agencies pooling their resources for the common good,” Pearland Police Dept. Lt. Patrick Savage said.
Det. Arnold has been involved with HMICAC since 2008. This was the first joint task force in the Galveston-Brazoria County Area.
Similar operations have been waged by HMICAC, most recently in Fort Bend County, Galveston County, and Harris County. Task force members for this operation included representatives of the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, Galveston Police Department, Harris County Constable Precinct 1, Houston Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations – Galveston, Jones Creek Marshal’s Office, Pearland Police Department and Webster Police Department.
The Task Force is an example of inter-agency cooperation and the results that can be achieved when agencies pool their resources to combat a societal foe.
The following suspects were arrested and charged with Online Solicitation of a Minor – 2nd Degree Felony. The penalty for a second degree penalty is 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. All were transported to the Pearland Police Department detention facility and will face charges in Brazoria County:
The suspects:
- Ayal Goldberg, 26, of League City
- Benjamin Rondon, 23, of Conroe
- Bradley May, 32, of Houston
- Edwin Cedillo-Miranda, 24, of Highlands
- Erike Ramirez, 36, of Pearland
- Jake Luera, 29, of Webster
- Jeffrey Brasfield, 58, of San Antonio (deceased)
- Jesus Santana, 28, of Pasadena
- Jonathan Copeman, 26, of Houston
- Justin Gadd, 27, of Jones Creek
- Keith Davidson, 48, of West Columbia
- Lorenzo Perez, 20, of Houston
- Marcelino Romero-Lucas, 34, of Baycliff
- Miguel Gonzalez Banda, 24, of Houston
- Pablo Ibarra, 27, of Houston
- Sajid Qureshi, 27, of Pearland
