May 25, 2023 4:20 a.m.
A three-month long undercover operation to identify adults victimizing children online has led to the arrests of seven suspects throughout southern Oregon, including a Portland man for a case in Sutherlin.
A release from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team joint inter-agency task force launched the operation to identify and arrest dangerous cyber predators using the internet to meet with local juveniles to have sex.
The SOCET led operation consisted of undercover law enforcement officers posing as minors on various online websites waiting for suspects to proposition them into having sex. The release said even after the acknowledgement of the child’s age, suspects sent sexually explicit messages, photos, and detailed requests of sexual activities they wanted to perform with the child.
The complex undercover operation involved dozens of law enforcement officials from many agencies. Due to the complexity of the operation and the dangers involved in the arrests, SOCET also enlisted assistance from other local police task forces including the Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team and Pacific Northwest Violent Offenders Task Force. Arrests took place between mid-March and mid-May.
In Douglas County, there was one arrest. On April 11th, 34-year old Carlos Orellana was arrested by the Sutherlin Police. He was charged with first-degree online sexual corruption of a child, second-degree online sexual corruption of a child and luring a minor. He was detained on $30,000 bail and was released on April 13th.
Investigators have reason to believe the suspects may have other victims. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency or the JCSO tip line at 5410774-8333.
SOCET is a joint multi-agency team that started in June of 2020 to combat child exploitation and human trafficking.
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