More than 200 suspected child sex offenders have been arrested over the past week during a major joint effort, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Wednesday. Authorities arrested 205 people and successfully rescued 115 children across the United States as part of the large-scale operation named "Operation Restore Justice,"
Bondi and Patel described the operation as "historic" and "unprecedented" in scope and impact. Meanwhile, Trump threatened to take action against several 'activist' judges whom he accused of trying to obstruct his MAGA agenda. Among those arrested were a Minnesota state trooper, a cop from Washington, D.C., and an illegal immigrant from Mexico, according to Patel.
Big Achievement for Patel, Bondi and Team
State trooper Jeremy Francis Plonski is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison after being arrested for creating child sexual abuse content while wearing his uniform, according to Patel. All those arrested are accused of preying on children online.
Former Metropolitan Police Department officer and convicted sex offender Linwood Barnhill is also accused of abusing additional victims, including minors, while he was under supervised release, according to officials.
Barnhill is accused of luring minors to take part in commercial sex acts from which he allegedly profited, according to a complaint.
"These depraved human beings, if convicted, will face the maximum penalty in prison, some life," Bondi said at a press briefing.
"We will find you. We will arrest you, and we will charge you. If you are online targeting a child, you will not escape us. The FBI and the Department of Justice will come after you. And we will prosecute you."
Bondi And Patel Go All Out to Nab Offenders
Patel said that federal agents from more than 55 field offices carried out the large-scale operation. "Their work undoubtedly saved lives and protected vulnerable kids from further horrific crimes," he wrote on X.
"Operation Restore Justice is a powerful message: If you harm children in America, you will be given no sanctuary. There is nowhere you can hide."
Bondi also issued a warning to parents, urging them to protect their children from predators on the internet.
"Parents, you have to know this is so serious, your child has no right to privacy on the internet, none," she said. "You have to monitor what your kids are doing, whether they're playing games on the internet, on social media, any other websites that children and teenagers frequent, an online predator can find them."
She added, "I always say it's from instant message to instant nightmare. They're predators. They pose as children. They get them sometimes to post explicit pictures of themselves after they talk to them, and then, in some cases, they even try to blackmail the children."
