Cherokee Sheriff's Office Assists GBI in Child Porn Investigation

The Cherokee Sheriff's Office recently participated in a an operation designed to halt the distribtion of child pornography over the Internet.

The sheriff's office was among 47 law enforcement agencies participating in Operation Guarding Innocence, a three month investigation coordinated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

Search warrants were recently issued for the distribution of child porn over the Internet in 37 Georgia counties, according to a GBI press release.

Just in time for April's National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the state-wide endeavor included 50 teams representing 47 federal, state and local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. 

The operation, which ran from January through March, centered on the ability of GBI agents and the task force to detect specific child porn images being shared over the Internet.

Ninety-eight suspects were identified as distributing child porn over the Internet and were targeted for search warrants in the operation.

According to the press release, the mission of the ICAC Task Force Program, created by the U. S. Department of Justice and housed within the GBI, is to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in developing an effective response to cyber enticement and child pornography cases.

Visit the Georgia ICAC Task Force website or the GBI website.

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