"Operation Spring Cleaning" results in 73 child sex offender arrests in San Bernardino County

Nearly six dozen people were arrested during a weeks-long operation targeting child sex offenders in San Bernardino County, according to law enforcement officials. 

The arrests were made as part of "Operation Spring Cleaning," which is described as focusing on "identifying and arresting predators who use the internet to facilitate the sexual abuse of children, to rescue children from predators and to ensure registered sex offenders were compliant with their registration requirements," according to a press release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. 

During the operation, which spanned over two weeks from April 5 to April 19, investigators served more than 480 compliance checks on registered sex offenders that resulted in arrest for failure to register as a sex offender, the release said. 

On top of that, over 30 warrants resulted in arrests for possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and felon in possession of a firearm. 

"Detectives conducted multiple Undercover (UC) Chat Operations in which law enforcement officers created an maintained online personas on popular social media sites and waited for suspects to engage in criminal, lewd, sexual behavior with the underage UC personas, which resulted in multiple arrests," the release also noted. 

In all, 73 people were arrested in San Bernardino County. 

"The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department rescued multiple children from ongoing abuse," the release said. 

As their investigations continue, SBSD asks that anyone who knows more contact them at (909) 387-8313.