13 Kids Saved, 17 Arrests In GA Child Sexual Exploitation Sting

DECATUR, GA — A months-long statewide child exploitation sting ended with 13 children being rescued and 17 people being arrested, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Operation Byte Down was the combined effort of 34 law-enforcement agencies across Georgia and targeted internet crimes against children.

The GBI said the children who were found were living in households where child sexual exploitation occurred. At least one of the people arrested acknowledged participating in past or present "hands-on sexual offenses against a child," the agency said.

Authorities said these people were arrested on suspicion of sexual exploitation of children and other charges:

• Kong Hon Yim, 63, of Duluth, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail
• Ezequiel Ortiz, 30, of Duluth, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail
• Jianglin Meng, 26, of Norcross, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail
• Morgan Albright, 18, of Winder, booked into the Barrow County Jail
• Steven Michael Yanizeski, 28, of Evans, booked into the Columbia County Jail
• Chaunansheng Fu, 28, of Doraville, booked into the DeKalb County Jail
• Steven Ray Mendenhall, 53, of Macon, booked into the Bibb County Jail
• Elvis Beltran Pineda, 25, of Alpharetta, booked into the Forsyth County Jail
• Richard Jason Lowery, 43, of Augusta, booked into the Richmond County Jail
• Patrick Dulebohn, 43, of Savannah, booked into the Chatham County Jail
• Dennis Farmer, 65, of Tifton, booked into the Tift County Jail
• Christian Havanki, 29, of Pooler, booked into the Chatham County Jail
• Thomas Walker, 37, of Helen, booked into the White County Jail
• Derrick Long, 25, of Kingsland, booked into the Camden County Jail
• Jonathan Sells, 39, of Cleveland, booked into the White County Jail
• Todd Shelton, 61, of Acworth, booked into the Cherokee County Jail
• Timothy Grimsley, 36, of Tifton, booked into the Tift County Jail

Part of the probe included gathering cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tips involved child pornography, the GBI said.

More than 360 electronic devices were seized during the investigation, the GBI said, including cellular phones, tablets, computers, hard drives, and electronic data storage devices.

In addition to the GBI, the following agencies participated in Operation Byte Down:

• Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
• Bartow County Sheriff’s Office
• Bibb County Sheriff’s Office
• Blakely Police Department
• Brookhaven Police Department
• Carroll County Sheriff’s Office
• Chatham County Sheriff’s Office
• Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office
• Clayton County Sheriff’s Office
• Columbia County Sheriff’s Office
• Dekalb County District Attorney’s Office
• Doraville Police Department
• Effingham County Sheriff’s Office
• Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office
• Georgia State Patrol
• Gwinnett County Police Department
• Hall County Sheriff’s Office
• Henry County Police Department
• Helen Police Department
• Houston County Sheriff’s Office
• Jasper County Sheriff’s Office
• Kingsland Police Department
• Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office
• Paulding County Sheriff’s Office
• Pooler Police Department
• Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
• Roswell Police Department
• Savannah Police Department
• St. Marys Police Department
• Tifton Police Department
• United States Secret Service
• Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office
• Woodstock Police Department