A several months-long undercover investigation coordinated by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office High Technology Crime Unit yielded the arrests of 24 individuals over a four-day period who engaged in a variety of child sex crimes.
According to Cpl. Doug Rainwater, the goal of “Operation Just Cause” was to arrest persons who solicited children to engage in sexually explicit activities.
"The operation targeted those who exploit children by purchasing sex with a minor. On-line child predators visit chat rooms and websites on the internet, find children, begin conversations with them, introduce sexual content and arrange a meeting with the children for the purpose of having sex," Rainwater said.
Over the course of the operation, a number of cases were established that met the threshold for arrest — 24 of those cases were concluded with arrests. The arrestees, ranging in age from 19 to 65, traveled from areas around North Georgia, and other states, with the intent to meet a child for sex.
The following individuals were arrested and charged in Forsyth County as a part of “Operation Just Cause”:
- Robert Harley Martin, Dahlonega, 38
- Erik Delgado, Gainesville, 26
- Alan Thomas Bryant, Murrayville, 40
- Kyle Alexander Williams, Stone Mountain, 32
- Roger Kyle Nicholson, Gainesville, 44
- Jacob Perry Yeamans, Madison, WI, 61
- Rene Mauricio Posada, Marietta, 29
- Jackson Cain Butler, Calhoun, 20
- John Andrew Odell, Cumming, 40
- Michael Keith Coker, Augusta State Prison, 29
- Richard Edward Hazelwood, Roswell, 49
- Johnathon Dale Butler, Palmall, TN, 25
- Mackenzi Faye Stinson, Palmall, TN, 19
- Mahesh Kumar Saroj, Alpharetta, 35
- Christopher Scott Taylor, Cumming, 29
- Joseph Ryan Lisnock, Gainesville, 22
- Dylan Blair Nessmith, Johns Creek, 23
- Austin Wayne Rhodes, Alpharetta, 22
- Daniel Dennis Rogan, Witchita, KS, 47
- Jason Lee McIntyre, Gainesville, 35
- Gavin Austen Peppers, Bowman, 21
- Jimmy Webster Roy, Gainesville, 21
- Anthony Christian Ceja, Lawrenceville, 23
- Steven Charles Vinnenberg, Cumming, 65
During the multi-day operation, investigators had numerous exchanges with subjects on various social media or internet platforms. Many of those were exchanges in which the subject initiated contact with whom they believed to be a minor and directed the conversation towards sex. In some of those cases, the subject introduced obscene or lewd content, often exposing the minor (undercover) to pornography or requesting the child take nude or pornographic images for them.
According to Rainwater, although some websites promote themselves as being for “adults-only” it is not uncommon for law enforcement to work cases in which children access these sites, establish profiles claiming to be older, and then find themselves vulnerable to victimization, harassment, blackmail, or assault.
"Several subjects were identified as communicating simultaneously with multiple investigators posing as minors," he said. "Such activity confirms what investigators uncover conducting these types of investigations: that many predators specifically seek out minors on such websites to groom them as potential victims for sexual contact."
Along with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, 13 additional law enforcement agencies participated in “Operation Just Cause” as members of the Georgia ICAC Task Force. These agencies were: Johns Creek-Alpharetta-Forsyth County (JCAF) Drug Task Force, Alpharetta Police Department, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, Floyd County Police Department, GBI, GBI-Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center (GISAC), Gwinnett County Police Department, Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Johns Creek Police Department, Lilburn Police Department, Roswell Police Department and the United States Department of Homeland Security.
