WELCH, W.Va. — The sheriffs of McDowell and Wyoming counties say they were shocked at how quickly they were able to detect predators on-line who were willing to come to their counties to prey on children.
Four people were arrested this week in what McDowell County Sheriff James “Boomer” Muncy and Wyoming County Sheriff Brad Ellison called Operation Black Lantern.
“It’s amazing. I’m flabbergasted there are people out there and in such a short period of time you can connect with them,” said Ellison.
“As rural as we are, it shocked me it could operate that fast,” said Muncy.
Both Munch and Ellison said they are aware of problems with child predators in their counties, but have extremely small staffs to try and tackle the problem. A couple of deputies came to them with interest in trying to set up a sting operation. They attended training on the details and met individuals who could assist with the logistics. The on-line sting was set up at the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department and within minutes of getting on-line and starting internet chats, law enforcement was able to attract people seeking to engage in sexual activity with girls and boys, well aware they were under the age of 16.
“We had three in McDowell and one in Wyoming, but there’s going to be a bunch more we’re going to be able to prosecute because they had enough over the internet and identified themselves over the internet. They didn’t come. We had four that actually came,” Muncy explained.
The chats set up meetings between the suspects and who they believed to be children at Air BNBs in the two counties. Three were arrested in McDowell County and a fourth in Wyoming.
The suspects were Jonathan Rutan, 27, of Ripley, John Beckwith, 44, of Charleston, Austin Cox, 36, of Blountville, Tn. and Marlon Enrique Perez, of El Salvador. All are charged with soliciting a minor, soliciting a minor via computer, and traveling to engage in prohibited sexual activity. Perez faces additional charges because he’s in the country illegally and will face immigration charges as well.
“I can’t believe or think this was these guys first time,” Ellison added. “Nobody will make me believe this was the only time they done it.. In a matter of a day or two they are in southern West Virginia trying to pick up underaged kids.”
Muncy and Ellison didn’t want to reveal too many details of the operation since the cases are still pending. They add, because of the success of the program, they’d like to keep using it to get predators off the streets of their counties.
“I’d love to see it,” said Muncy. “To be honest, as dangerous as these people are, to me I feel like we’ve definitely helped save some kids by taking them off the street.”