“We applaud the work of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force for protecting our children and actively searching for those who are downloading child sexual abuse material. This work can take a toll on law enforcement officers. We thank them for investigative work.”
CSLEA President Alan Barcelona
SACRAMENTO COUNTY – On October 31, 2023, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced that 12 people have been arrested as a result of a two-week Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) operation by the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force that focused on proactively identifying and investigating suspects who downloaded Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) to their personal devices and computers.
The Task Force is comprised of the following 18 agencies:
- Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office,
- Rancho Cordova Police Department,
- Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office,
- Citrus Heights Police Department,
- Sacramento Police Department,
- San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office,
- Elk Grove Police Department,
- Folsom Police Department,
- Placer County Sheriff’s Office,
- Roseville Police Department,
- Rocklin Police Department,
- Placer County District Attorney’s Office,
- El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office,
- California Highway Patrol (CHP) – CCIU,
- California Department of Justice,
- Sacramento County Probation,
- Vacaville Police Department,
- and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Sacramento.
Detectives arrested 12 people in the Sacramento Valley region who are suspected of downloading and in possession of CSAM along with a variety of other charges, including:
- PC 311.11(a) – Possession of Child Pornography (Felony)
- PC 311.1(a) – Distribution of Child Pornography (Felony)
- PC 311.4(d) – Production/Manufacturing of Child Pornography (Felony)
- PC 288(a) – Lewd act with a child under the age of 14 (Felony)
- PC 288(b)(1) – Lewd acts with a minor by force or fear (Felony)
- PC 29800(a)(1) – Felon in Possession of a Firearm
- PC 30305(a)(1) – Felon in Possession of Ammunition
Tens of thousands of CSAM images and videos were recovered during this operation, where one suspect had over 5TB of CSAM.
One suspect, Josh Sevilla, 40, of Citrus Heights, was also identified as a suspect in a “hands-on” offense with a minor. At the conclusion of the investigation, Sevilla was charged with 12 counts of PC 288(b)(1) – Lewd acts with a minor by force or fear, eight counts of PC 288(a) – Lewd acts with a minor under the age of 14, and PC 311.11(a) – Possession of Child Pornography.
Arrested as a result of Operation Monster Mash:
