SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Juan and the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force joined Operation Aliados por la Infancia III, an international action conceived and coordinated in Argentina, to combat the sexual exploitation of boys, girls and adolescents. Its reach transcends borders, extending to Germany, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. During the operation, officials investigated social network users across all countries.
This integrated operation arose as a result of the joint work carried out by the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires through the Judicial Investigation Corps.
In Puerto Rico, authorities arrested a registered sex offender whose cellular device — which contained explicit sexual content of minors — had already been seized by HSI San Juan following a referral from the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
HSI's Cybercrime unit created the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force in 2011 to adopt an islandwide approach to combat the escalation of predatory crimes against children. It is a collaboration between HSI and members of local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as community leaders.
Through the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force, federal, local and state law enforcement agencies pool their resources to jointly investigate all crimes committed against minors in Puerto Rico. The idea is for members of the Task Force to share investigative and forensic evidence, ideas and tools to ensure the greatest possible success of prosecutions.
If you suspect a crime committed against a minor, call the HSI Tip Line at 877-HSI-4-TIP.