WEBER COUNTY, DAVIS COUNTY, Utah, May 8, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Five northern Utah men have been taken into custody after a multi-agency sting operation targeting men seeking to meet minors for illegal activities.
The group of 13 city, county, state and federal agencies “conducted a proactive undercover operation utilizing various online social media applications to locate and identify suspects that use the Internet to agree to meet minors under the age of 14 for sexual activity(s) and/or sexually exploit children,” a statement from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office said.
Booked on suspicion of enticing a minor via the Internet, a second-degree felony, were Randall Nelson, 30, of Clinton; Gerardo Medina, 25, of Clearfield; William Davis, 56, of Ogden; and Rumaldo Duran, 26, of Ogden.
Booked on suspicion of enticing a minor via the Internet, a second-degree felony, and of dealing in harmful material, a third-degree felony, was Cameron Sandoval, 25, of Roy.
Agencies participating in the joint effort were:
- Weber County Sheriff’s Office
- Davis County Sheriff’s Office
- Davis County Attorney’s Office
- Roy City Police Department
- Homeland Security Investigations
- Layton City Police Department
- Federal Bureau of Investigations
- Utah Department of Public Safety/State Bureau of Investigations
- Syracuse City Police Department
- Tooele City Police Department
- Weber County Attorney’s Office
- West Valley City Police Department
- Ogden City Police Area Tactical Analysis Center
“This operation lasted several hours but was a huge success,” the WCSO statement says.
“The Weber County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind parents and guardians of children with cellphones to remain vigilant of the various social media sites available. Predators will manipulate their information posing as someone they may not be in attempts to entice potential victims.”
