COVINGTON, Ga. — A Newton County man is facing charges he shared child pornography online after his arrest as part of a GBI operation targeting the crime.
The GBI's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CEACC) and Special Enforcement Team (SET) worked together Jan. 23 to 26 to execute multiple residential search warrants in six counties as part of unrelated child exploitation investigations, a news release stated.
Sudesh Ryan Rajkoomar, 26, of Covington, was arrested Jan. 23 at his residence and charged with three counts of Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material.
A GBI agent said the investigation into the Covington case began after the agency received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that the suspect had images of children on a computer he was allegedly sharing with others online.
"It was regarding a particular social media company that had reported to the National Center that this individual was distributing child sexual abuse material," said Special Agent in Charge Brian Johnston.
The two GBI units planned the operation for months and named it “Happy New Year," a news release stated.
Eleven were arrested and charged with child exploitation offenses after the CEACC Unit executed a total of 17 search warrants over the four-day period in Newton, Clayton, DeKalb, Spalding, Gwinnett and Fulton counties.
Those arrested ranged in age from 18 to 62 with individual charges from one count to 12 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children.
The cases came from cybertips received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning individuals using computer peer-to-peer file sharing networks for the collection and dissemination of child sexual abuse material and individuals engaged in sexually explicit or obscene internet contact with a child.
As a result of the search warrants, over 230 digital devices were previewed on scene by GBI digital forensic investigators assigned to the CEACC unit — the host agency for Georgia’s Internet Crimes Against Children’s Task Force.
Many of the devices were seized and will be subjected to full digital forensic processing which will likely result in more arrests, the release stated.
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office assisted the GBI in the Covington case, the release stated.
Operation “Happy New Year” is part of the ongoing effort by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the child pornography trade.
The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teens using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.
Anyone with information about these cases or other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870.
