FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office and partners in the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) concluded special sting operations in November that led to the arrest of nine suspects who were allegedly using the internet to prey on children.
"You need to be nosy, trust your children, but verify their activities," Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy E. Nehls said at a press conference Wednesday morning. Nehls said one suspect was caught with $4,000 in cash, leading them to believe he had intentions on taking the girl he targeted away from home.
The objective of the operation was two-fold. One component was to identify and arrest individuals engaging in the solicitation or online sexual exploitation of children through social media sites. The second objective was a focus on subjects who are involved in the possession and promotion of child pornography in and around Fort Bend County.
Task force agents engaged in communications with suspects using social media websites that are accessible to adults, as well as children. Through communication with suspects online, officers were able to direct suspects attempting to engage in sexual contact with children to another location where officers were waiting and made arrests in three cases. A fourth case involved a chase that started in Rosenberg and concluded on the outskirts of Richmond on U.S. 90A.
In the second component of the operation, agents used file-sharing clients to identify persons participating in the possession or promotion of child pornography on the Internet.
The four men facing charges of Attempted Sexual Assault of a Child and Online Solicitation of a Minor and their bond amounts include: Joshua Nelson, 28, from Rosenberg, $35,000; Dustin Sabatini, 26, of the Sugar Land area, $35,000; James Paul Goates, 46, of Rosenberg, $30,000; and Abdallah Darawsha, 26, of Houston, $60,000. Darawsha also has been charged with Evading in a Vehicle.
Facing charges of Possession or Promotion of Child Pornography, a Third Degree Felony for possession and a Second Degree Felony for promotion of Child Pornography and their bond amounts are: Peter Huang, 49, of Houston, $60,000 ; Stevan Solis, 49, Houston, $80,000; Adalberto Torres, 36, Houston, $20,000; Guadalupe Quezeda, 54, Richmond, $15,000; Timothy Rodriguez, 24, Richmond, $40,000; and Dustin Sabatini, 26, Sugar Land area, $35,000.
Solis, Goates, Torres, Quezeda, Darawsha and Huang have bailed out. The rest remain in the fort Bend County Jail.
These cases follow up on a similar case in October when a teenage girl made an outcry to her mother that she had been contacted through social media and was assaulted during the summer. The girl's mother contacted the Sheriff's Office and deputies assumed the child's identity online.
A meeting with the suspect was arranged and that led to the arrest of Christopher Nichols, 41, of Houston.
Nichols had a $240,000 bond and he has bailed out of the Fort Bend County Jail.
Nehls urged parents to become more involved, adding that his office is out in full force, but need help.
"Children are our most prized possessions. I can assure you that we are doing everything to protect your children, but we need your help. We need your support," Nehls said. "It is the responsibility of the Sheriff's Office to do whatever we can to apprehend these monsters. I will say it, they are monsters."
Besides the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, other agencies included the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, Sugar Land Police Department, Rosenberg PD, the FBI, Missouri City and the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office.
The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office urges parents to monitor their children's social media accounts by knowing passwords and keeping track of who their children are interacting with online.
For more information on how to keep children safe online, click here.
Abdallah Darawsha, 26, of Houston