The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit recently conducted Operation Golden Eagle in Georgia, United States. The bureau, the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office‘s Special Operations Unit and several other law enforcement agencies spent months to plan the proactive online undercover investigation.

The goal was to identify those who engage in sexually explicit communication with children on the internet and arrange to meet them for the purpose of sex. From May 4-6, 2023, undercover agents used various social media platforms to identify people who are looking to exploit children.

Including the GBI and the BCSO, a total of 12 agencies participated in Operation Golden Eagle. The others are the Bartow County District Attorney’s Office, the Cartersville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Floyd County Police Department, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Lilburn Police Department, the Polk County Police Department, the Roswell Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service.

Out of the 12 Georgia men arrested in the operation, 11 drove to Bartow County, Georgia believing they were meeting a child who they had been chatting with online. One suspect was arrested for possession of child sexual abuse material found during a search warrant execution. 

During the operation, the undercover investigators had more than 98 exchanges with individuals on various social media and internet platforms. Here is the list of the arrestees:

1. Algenone Kenonta Shaw, 33, of Cartersville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation and obstruction.
2. Sales engineer Ameziane Hadjaz, 38, of Acworth, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
3. Factory worker Curtis Breeden, 33, of Cartersville, Georgia was charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation of children.
4. Warehouse worker Dannis Lucious Jackson, 43, of Rome, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
5. Unemployed man Jason Rogich, 47, of Adairsville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
6. Forklift driver Jonathan Brumit, 42, of Lindale, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
7. Factory supervisor Jose A. Martinez-Medina, 45, of Cave Spring, Georgia was charged with human trafficking.
8. Unemployed man Justin Leo Tan, 24, of Lawrenceville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation and possession of a firearm during commission of a crime.
9. Rideshare driver Melvin Walcott, 56, of Cartersville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
10. Landscaper Senaca Terry Darns, 43, of Cartersville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.
11. Unemployed man Tyler Jordon Croft, 25, of Hull, Georgia was charged with human trafficking.
12. Unemployed man William Biggs, Jr., 64, of Cartersville, Georgia was charged with computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation.