Timothy Michael “Tim” Tatko, 55, of Mayfield Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States is a fourth-grade teacher at Orchard Hollow Elementary School in Mentor, Lake County, Ohio, which is part of Mentor Public Schools. He previously lived in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, USA.
Aside from Mayfield Heights, Tatko has lived in other parts of Ohio including Cleveland, Mentor and Willoughby. He is one of the 14 men arrested in Cuyahoga County as part of Operation Spider Web, which targeted online child exploitation offenders interested in engaging in sexual activity with whom they believed to be minor children.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force coordinated Operation Spider Web from October 26-29, 2023. During this period, Tatko and the 13 other suspects allegedly engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with who they thought were underage children on popular social media platforms.
After the online conversations, the 14 suspects allegedly traveled to an arranged location in Cuyahoga County to have sex. That was where they were arrested by officials from different law enforcement agencies including the U.S Secret Service and the offices of Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Cleveland.
Tatko was arrested in Mayfield Heights. Upon learning of his arrest, Mentor Public Schools placed him on administrative leave and ordered him not to have contact with anyone in the school district while the results of an internal investigation are still pending.
There is no indication that any student in Mentor was involved in the circumstances leading to Tatko’s arrest, according to Mentor Public Schools. The school district is cooperating with law enforcement officials working on the case.
Operation Spider Web is the Ohio ICAC Task Force’s fifth such operation since 2018. Including Tatko, a total of 122 suspects have been arrested.
CONAN Daily 